Track and field prepares for triple-meet weekend

By Ed Rietveld

This weekend marks the end of the track and field outdoor regular season, and NIU will make this weekend a busy one by sending athletes to three meets.

The first meet of the weekend is the Penn Relays Thursday to Saturday in Philadelphia. On Friday, NIU will also have athletes at the West Chester Last Chance Qualifier in West Chester, Penn., at West Chester University. On Saturday, a dozen Huskies will complete a little closer to home at the UW-Whitewater Alternative meet.

This is the last weekend where athletes can earn berths into the conference meet, which will be held May 9 to 11 at Akron. NIU is on a little bit of a hot streak off its results at the Huskie Open, as it had nine event titles at home last weekend, five on the track and four in the field.

“I think we’ve started to fine-tune and sharpen up a little bit, getting closer to [the] conference [meet],” said Connie Teaberry, track and field head coach. “So, the Penn Relays is a great place for the girls. They’re gonna see great competition. [We need to] keep them focused and [they need to] execute in each race.”

Megan Gregory, senior sprinter and hurdler, had two events the 100 hurdles and the 200 meters at the Huskie Open. She said she only has to worry about running her own races heading into this final stretch of the season.

“I think basically keeping a clean mindset and not worrying about the competition and who’s gonna be on the line, is pretty much what’s gonna bring me through MAC [championships],” Gregory said.

As far as field events go, coach Kevin Dwyer said his team is positioned well after its four event wins last weekend.

“I don’t think we have to do much,” Dwyer said. “I just think we have to sharpen it up a little bit in practices, stay focused and just get healthy. So, I think we’re ready to go and looking forward to get to the meet.”