Track and field is ready for its biggest challenge of the young season.

The Huskies will travel to Bloomington, Ind., for the Indiana Relays this weekend. The meet will feature 15-20 teams. NIU is coming off last weekend’s Wisconsin Elite Invitational, where it had 11 student-athletes finish the weekend with top five performances.

Rebecca Cronin, senior middle distance running standout, was one of the highlights as she took the 800-meter crown during the meet.

Eight Huskies set personal records in Wisconsin, including freshman Claudette Day in the long jump, who is now less than 3 inches away from being added to the NIU record book, and junior Julie Cronin in the 800 meters.

Rebecca Cronin’s favorite race is the 800-meter run, but she has just as much confidence in her 600-meter ability. She won the 600-meter run at last year’s Indiana Relays.

“I definitely like the 800 over all of my races,” Cronin said. “People think I’m crazy, but I just like the challenge of the race. It is a huge mental thing indoors knowing it is four laps.”

Cronin is not the only Huskie with Indiana Relay experience. Eight other athletes competed in the meet last season.

Sidra Sherrill earned a top 10 finish last year, as she finished seventh in the shot put with a throw of 46-09.00, which at the time was her personal record in the event.

Head coach Connie Teaberry said the Huskies with experience in large events will have no problem passing along tips to the athletes who have yet to compete in a meet the size of the Indiana Relays.

“We have a young group going,” Teaberry said. “We are taking about 18 student-athletes to Indiana Relays and are going into a competition with exceptional athletes, but I think the upperclassmen will definitely help the younger athletes prepare mentally so they can go into the competition ready.”

Teaberry and the rest of the staff hope more athletes will join A’Iesha Irvin-Muhammad and Tahtyana Peer as Huskies with automatic berths into the MAC Indoor Conference Championships in their respective events with performances in the track or field events this weekend.

Peer and Irvin-Muhammad both qualified for MAC Indoor at the Illini Classic earlier this month in the 60-meter and 200-meter respectively.

The freshmen sprinters are the only automatic qualifiers so far this year, but they are not the only Huskies who have had strong starts or near-qualifying times. NIU hopes its early season success will continue this weekend.

“When an athlete does well at a competition they head into the next one with even more confidence in their ability,” Teaberry said. “I think it’s just a part of being an athlete, and with the more success that you have you’re able to go into the next competition believing in yourself.

“….With the success that we have had in so far this season, I’m hoping that it carries over to Indiana and we will see some more improvements.”