Sports
Tiger track team travels to Tech
Wednesday, 29 February 2012 by Chuck Kelly
The Tiger track team will be pulling out of Belton at 8:00am Friday morning for their first event of this season, the Texas Tech Indoor Track Meet. Competition will take place in "The Bubble", the Athletic Training Center at 6th and Boston in Lubbock. The field events will begin at 10:00am Saturday, followed by the running events.
When asked about her girls, head coach Denise Petter answered: "We should be very strong! Right after we had our time trials last Friday...we timed the 100, 200 and 800...I was very impressed with the times compared to last year's. We've gotten a lot stronger and a lot faster!"
Forty girls will make the trip, ten more than last year, and ten boys have been chosen out of the group by coach Mike Morgan...mainly upper classmen, the cream of the crop.
They don't do discus at Tech. One of our throwers, Chloe Lewis, is eligible for varsity this year. She wasn't eligible last year after moving here from Temple. She had to be on JV for one year. "And, we have a few freshmen coming in that will be very strong throwers in the shot and discus," said Petter. "Our first real 'tell-tale' will be when we go to Cove the next week because they will include all the events."
Some of the races, like the hurdles, are different. No 100 or 300 meter hurdles --- only the 55, where they run only five hurdles.
"It's a little bit of an adjustment but looking at the times that my hurdlers are running right now in a short sprint, I think they will do exceptional," Petter confidently declared. "It will be a little difficult because some runners don't increase their speed until the first hurdle. They will have to...have to... get a good start and get after that first hurdle. That makes all the difference in the world. And, too, they have to understand that when they come off that last hurdle, the wall is right there! They can't be afraid of that. It's short, sweet and fast."
Ashley Russell and Saphire Hughes will be two of the top hurdlers.
Distance has always been the team's "long suit" and should be again this season.
"Of course, distance will be very strong because Kaitlyn Huckabee is back this year and she is running very strong right now," a smiling Petter stated, "We also have Macy Banfield and Kate Hatter. They're very strong and Katie's just a freshman. They had a little background from cross country but they've worked very hard since then and dropped their times incredibly.
"I'm hoping we can go into track, increasing what we did in sprints this year.
Last year, we weren't very successful in sprints or relays," the coach commented. "This year, looking at the times we have and the kids that have come in that are a lot faster, I'm hoping that we are able to turn that around a lot faster as well."
They only have one relay at the Tech Indoor meet --- the Mile relay. NO Sprint or 800 relays.
There will be a large number of college scouts in Lubbock, one reason Petter always takes her athletes....so they can be seen.
"If we can come away with a win at this meet, We'll be excited...and that's what we're hoping for!"
