The runners, jumpers and throwers were in action this past Friday at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale competing in the USA Open against a number of high-level programs.
While the weather outside may be a bit foreboding, the Washington University track and field teams don’t seem to notice. As the indoor season starts to wind down, some school records are already beginning to fall by the wayside.
During last weekend’s action, several Bears finished impressively. On the women’s side Mindy Kuhl placed third in the 800-meter run. Her finishing time of 2:18.53 shattered the previous school record of 2:19.63 set by Eileen McAllister in 1999.
Emily Lahowetz finished second in the 5000 meters. Sophomore Kammie Holt continued her terrific spring by placing second in the long jump and breaking her own school record with a leap of 18’7”.
On the men’s side, senior Travis Deutman turned in another school record in finishing the men’s mile in the smokin’ time of 4:16.54. He finished second in the race. Deutman also had a tenth-place showing in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:49.28.
Among the best of the rest for the men’s contingent for WU was sophomore Matt Hoelle, who placed fifth in the men’s 5000 meters.
The track team is immersed in the indoor portion of the schedule. Most of the meets have been completed and the team is looking forward to the University Athletic Association Championships coming up the weekend of March 2-3 at Brandeis University. The following weekend will see the Division III Championships at Ohio Northern University, for those athletes that have posted qualifying times.
For obvious reasons the team competes indoors during the January and February portion of the schedule but then moves into the brisk March air on March 22 for a mini-meet here at WU.
“We have been training very hard since the team came back from the winter break,” said senior Kathy Busch, a 3000-meter runner. “We have conference in two weeks and need to sharpen up this weekend before going to Brandeis.”
The season thus stretches from early January to May, although many regard the indoor season as a warmup, or trial, period. The Bears, like many other teams, focus on outdoor competition and train in fashion to be as competitive as possible in outdoor conditions, not stuffy gymaniums.
“We definitely have been focusing on outdoor training and looking forward to the conference championship next weekend,” said Mike Kukurza, an 800-meter runner for the Bears.
The Bears head back to the track on Saturday at the DePauw University/SCAC Invitational in Greencastle, Indiana, which will serve as the final tuneup before the conference championships.
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