Track team set to run outdoors

Kumar Bhooshan
Sports Editor

The men's and women's track teams will open up their outdoor track season across the river in St. Louis.

The teams will travel to the Washington University Invitational at 3 p.m. Friday.

This will be both squads' first outdoor meets of the year, and head coach Darryl Frerker said experience will be the focus of their first meet.

"Competitiveness and experience are the keys to our meets for the next couple of weeks," Frerker said.

Due to the weather, the team has not gotten a great deal of time on the outdoor track, and their meet this weekend will be a rare opportunity.

"We would hope to get the first race jitters out," Frerker said. "At this point we will really just try to get used to the outdoor tracks."

Frerker said he won't count on a great deal of personal records being broken in the upcoming meet, but if the weather is on the teams' side, some runners may reach personal bests.

The track teams concluded their indoor season with two All-Great Lakes Valley Conference runners.

Daniel Walden, of Springfield, Ill., and Sarah Turpin were both honored by finishing in the top two in the GLVC Indoor Championship.

Walden finished second with a time of 1 minute and 56 seconds in the 800-meter run.

"We hope to get him some race experience," Frerker said. "When you start competing at the national level, experience gives you the best look at where you are at."

Turpin, a senior from Belleville, placed second in the 200-meter hurdles with a time of 30.49.

"We hope for much of the same for Sarah as we do out of Daniel," Frerker said. "Both should qualify for nationals and do well for the season."

According to Frerker, both the men's and women's teams will hope to get things together before the GLVC championships April 20 and 21 in Indianapolis.