CU track travels for out-of-state invitationals

A week outside of the Penn Relay Carnival and three from the Heptagonal conference meet, Columbia track and field will seek to ready itself for each of those contests this weekend in Alabama and New Jersey. After previous efforts to strengthen athletes with off-distance events, sprints will field a readied group at Auburn’s War Eagle Invitational—and their intention is to run fast.

The top event to watch in Alabama is the women’s 400m. Super sophomore Sharay Hale will face off against top national competition, including Auburn junior Joanna Atkins—multiple-time All-American and returning NCAA champion. Hale opened with a 53.85 in Florida on April 2, but hasn’t had a go at the distance since. Now is as good a time as any to be primed.

Sophomore Kyra Caldwell will have her third outing in as many weeks at the 400m hurdles. Her aim once again, will be to break the 1:00 min barrier—after posting 1:00.61 in her debut, and 1:00.54 last week. She’ll also compete in the 100m version of the event.

“At this point in the season, we’re beginning to get into championship mode,” sprints coach Gavin O’Neal said. “This weekend is a test meet to get mentally prepared.”

After an awesome debut at the Sam Howell Invitational from April 2-3, distance will seek equal success this weekend when the Lions return to Princeton for the Larry Ellis Invitational. Here the 5k will be the marquee event, with sophomore Kyle Merber returning to competition after his blistering 3:45 in the 1500m two weeks ago. He’ll be joined by nine Lion men, a large part of the winning contingent from cross country Heptagonals this past fall. Additionally, both the men’s and women’s 1500m sections will feature a slew of Lion competitors.

Competition will take place all day on Saturday leading up to next week’s competition at the Penn Relay Carnival after consecutive split weekends.