ALBANY, N.Y. – After a week off, the University at Albany track & field program heads into its second round of competition for the outdoor season. Two weeks ago, the Great Danes divided and conquered, competing in separate meets in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Puerto Rico. This weekend, the team will split up again to compete in three meets, two in California and one in Florida.
The outdoor season started over Spring Break, just two weeks following the conclusion of the indoor season. The layoff was longer for the team as a whole this year than in previous years when there was just one week off for some Great Danes who competed at NCAA Indoor Championships. Instead, this year everyone's season ended by the conclusion of IC4A and ECAC Indoor Championships, leading to a prolonged training period before the first outdoor meets began.
“We got out of the Spring Break meets what we were looking for to open up the season,” said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Roberto Vives. “We had a lot of wins in Myrtle Beach. We thought it was a good opener for us in both places.”
One of the highlights from the Spring Break Classic in Puerto Rico was freshman Harmodio Cruz III satisfying the qualifying standard for the IAAF World Junior Championships in the men's 400m. Cruz III, who will represent Puerto Rico at the championships this summer in Tampere, Finland, is the latest UAlbany student-athlete to find himself preparing for the international stage.
“It's real good to get that international experience,” said Vives. “It helps you see the competition from a different level. When you get back to the NCAA you're a little more confident. You've been to these big international championship meets, and it adds another perspective to competing. It also keeps out student-athletes engaged because they know after the collegiate season they're going to continue to compete.”
Since opening over Spring Break, the Great Danes have had two weeks to train for their next competitions.
“Last week was a training week,” said Vives. “We had the student-athletes in the weight room three days, which is something that hasn't happened in a long time since we were in season. They worked every afternoon. My group had a 500m test effort last week. For those kids that don't get to compete as much, those efforts are good because it helps monitor their progress. We plan to do those on a bi-weekly basis to keep people sharp. There's a different between training and competing. When you put them in that kind of situation, that high-stress environment, they want to go out and see what they can do.
“We're ready to go this weekend,” Vives continued. And I think now is when we'll start to see some marks coming.”
The outdoor season brings with it a handful of changes to the event schedule from indoor. One of the notable changes comes in the high hurdles, which are extended to 10 hurdles and 100m and 110m for the women and men, respectively.
“I spoke to our high hurdlers, and they're not quite used to running over that many hurdles just yet,” said Vives. “So we did some strength-hurdling work last week to build up their fitness. There is that type of transition period. The first time outdoors does feel strange. You could have had a great indoor season but outdoors is different, especially in cases where you have to deal with a headwind. Hopefully this week, after all the work we've been doing, the hurdles will start to feel better and we'll see some big drops.”
Most of the competitors this weekend will visit the University of Florida for the Pepsi Florida Relays.
“We think the group we're taking to Florida is a great group,” said Vives. “Our women's shuttle hurdles relay is capable of breaking the school record. Matthew and Kingsley are in the invitational men's high jump and they can clear 7'. Anika can jump 5-8/5-9. Adrian can hit a regional mark in the javelin. Getting regional marks out of the way early will help them relax for the rest of the season.
“We're looking for the sprint relays to have some breakthroughs at Florida, Vives continued. “The 80-degree temperature obviously helps a lot in the sprints. Last year in the 4x400m, 3:39 qualified for regionals for the women and 3:09 qualified for the men. We feel we have relays that can run those times. This year, and this is different than in other years, I've entered our 400m runners in the Open division on Thursday, so they're fresh for the relay on Friday. You don't usually get a chance to run a 4x400m fresh against top competition.”
The move to the Open division for the 400m runners comes with a change in competition level. The Open field will potentially have more quality at the top, but less overall depth than will Friday's College division.
“The Open division features all of the world-class unattached competitors, who have represented their countries internationally, and graduates of the University of Florida who can run in the 45-46 range,” said Vives. Myles may end up racing in one of those heats with his seed time. Then, the field fills out with collegiate competitors who didn't have the seed time for the College division. The College division tends to be a lot more competitive, except at the top.”
The remaining eight student-athletes who will compete this weekend will travel west, either to the Stanford Invitational or to San Francisco State Distance Carnival.
“Out West, we're sending some of our distance runners,” said Vives. “Five will run at Stanford, and three will run in San Francisco. Stanford is highly competitive, and San Francisco is very deep. Ten guys ran under 30 minutes for 10,000m last year. When you think of the country and distance runners, there are a lot of good people out there. This seems to be the weekend to go for times, and we've never taken advantage of that before. We've gone to Mt. SAC traditionally, but with these meets we feel like we're giving our student-athletes an even better opportunity. Distance racing is all about pacing and this is the type of meet where the sole purpose is to run fast. All eight will have the competition they need, they just need to take advantage of it.”
The goal for this weekend, with another two-week training cycle to follow, is to take advantage of the high quality competition and good weather the team will see at all three locations.
“Ultimately, we're just looking to see people compete at a high level and get some regional marks,” said Vives. “We like to be done with regional marks early so we're not worrying about it come championship season when they need to be focused on the team.”
The Pepsi Florida Relays begin Thursday, March 29 at 5:00 p.m. The San Francisco State Distance Carnival starts Friday, March 30 at 5:00 a.m. Eastern, and the Stanford Invitational starts Friday at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
