The women's track and field team will open its season this weekend with the Husky Invitational at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. The meet hosted by Northeastern is the only meet that the Jumbos will be competing in before January.
The meet will be used as a litmus test for the Jumbos, showing them where their fitness currently stands. In addition, it will provide coaches with information on what the team needs to work on heading into winter break. Several cross country runners, coming off a successful season on the trails and various terrains, will be looking to see how their fitness translates to the track.
From a team perspective, because the meet is three months before the most important meets in the early spring, it will mostly be used as a jumping-off point. As the meet is well before most athletes are in peak form, it will almost certainly not be a good indicator of the way they will perform in a few months time.
As the full team finally reunites after being split into cross country and fall track captains' practices, the goal of this meet has historically been to give the athletes a chance to test the waters.
"Usually, we approach this meet as a way to see where people are," senior quad-captain Amy Wilfert said. "Especially for the sprinters coming out of fall track who haven't had any opportunities to compete yet, it is a great way to see what people are capable of. After that, we can move forward knowing what we need to improve as a team and individually."
The timing of the meet leaves many of the athletes excited about the opportunity.
"We have all been putting in a lot of hard work during our respective seasons, and this is our first chance to see where that work has brought us," junior Nicole Priscal said.
For some athletes like Wilfert, their fitness from the cross country season leaves them capable of putting out quality performances right off the bat.
"I'm coming out of a cross country peak right now, and I just want to try and run a good time if I can," Wilfert, who will be competing in the 5k, said. "It's a good opportunity to try and go for a qualifying time for some of the later meets at the end of February. If I can get one of those qualifying marks out of the way, then I can focus on other events for the remainder of the season individually and put more emphasis on running the events the team needs me to in certain meets."
For the cross country runners going abroad for the spring semester, this is their only opportunity to race for the season.
"Most distance runners are taking the meet off," Wilfert said. "After cross country, most will be building up their base in preparation for the beginning of the year. While most sprinters like to get out and compete at this meet, only seniors and runners going abroad are running in this meet, from the distance side."
Those who will be competing later in the spring see this more as a starting point than anything else.
"The meet really is just an opportunity to give a hard effort and see where we are at," Priscal said. "Any result can be turned into a positive if the proper steps are made to right any wrongs. The break will give all of us time to work out the kinks."
After this meet, the Jumbos will have a long time off before the rest of their meets begin in January. The break will be used to build off showings at the Husky Invitational. With a solid core of athletes returning from a very successful team last year, the indoor season begins with much promise.
