The track and field team will be forced to live a more nomadic life with an increased amount of travel this outdoor season.

During the indoor season the team generally stayed in the Midwest, competing in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota. In the outdoor season, the Huskies have already completed in Florida over spring break. This weekend the Huskies will send athletes to two events: one at the Texas Relays at the University of Texas in Austin and the Raleigh Relays hosted by North Carolina State University.

Head coach Connie Teaberry said the outdoor season requires her athletes to be mindful of their time.

“[During the] outdoor season a lot of our track and field meets they come [on] not one day, but two or three days because we add the heptathlon and a couple of more events,” Teaberry said. “Our ladies do a great job with their time management, although we are away from classes a little bit more than in the indoor season. We expect them to maintain their grades at a high standard and to make sure they have spoken with their professors to stay on top of their academic success.”

NIU is also scheduled to compete in events in Tennessee, California and Pennsylvania later on in the outdoor season.

The Huskies are only scheduled to compete in one home event this season, that being the Huskie Open on April 20.

Teaberry said DeKalb’s unpredictable spring weather makes it harder for NIU to have home meets.

“If we had the capability to have more home meets it would definitely help our student-athletes a lot more due to some academic purposes,” Teaberry said. “Unfortunately, as you see now, the weather is just not cooperative. We try to move our home meet as back as far as we can to give the weather in the Midwest a chance to break and get a little bit warmer. But a lot of times more than not the weather does not cooperate with us. So we have to go on the road a little bit more.”

Senior sprinter Janay Mitchell said she and her teammates make use of their spare time while at school.

“Well, I try not to go out as much that’s for sure,” Mitchell said. “Then [I] just try and do maybe two classes worth of homework within one night and use the Yordon [Center] fast area to the full extent, get most of my study hall hours and homework done over there.”