This might be hard to believe with all the snow on the ground, but the outdoor track and field season is almost here.

Over spring break the Huskies will compete on March 14 and 15 in the Bulls Invitational hosted by the University of South Florida in Tampa Fla. The meet at will be the opening meet of the outdoor season.

The Huskies last competed in the MAC indoor track and field championships where they finished 10th out of 12 teams with 16 team points. The highest finishing Huskie was senior sprinter Janay Mitchell, who finished second in the 60 meters with a career-best time of 7.52.

It will be important for the Huskies to get off on the right foot as they begin the outdoor season.

“[We need] to make sure we start the first competition of the outdoor season at South Florida on a positive note,” said Connie Teaberry, track and field head coach. “It’s gonna be good to get some training in outdoors. One of the reasons why we travel south at this time during the spring break is to make sure that we can get a couple days on a 400-meter track outdoors in some good weather. So, we’re really training through that meet, but we want to make sure that we’re able to practice all the events leading up to that competition.”

Getting off to a good start could prove to be no easy task as three of the five other teams scheduled to compete at the meet are currently ranked in the top 25. Florida State is 18th, the University of Kentucky Wildcats are 20th and the Michigan Wolverines are 23rd.

Teaberry said facing the tough competition is something her team is used to by now.

“I believe indoors and outdoors we try to make our schedule where all of our competitions are against great quality,” Teaberry said. “So, competing in South Florida shouldn’t be a different caliber of athletes than what we’ve already seen before.”

Sophomore distance runner Jamie Burr said traveling to Florida should give the team a good chance to come together.

“Yeah, definitely, I went last year when we went to Florida last year as well and yeah it’s a huge bonding experience and opportunity for the team,” Burr said. “And I think it’s a really good opportunity to get to know all of the girls because during the regular, just like training season, it’s not very often that I get to spend a ton of time with the sprinters or the field event girls. So this is a great opportunity to get…the whole team together and spend time [together].”