Track team heads to Ogden for Wilcat Invitational
The Utah State University track team will head to Ogden Saturday to compete in the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Weber State University. BYU, Montana State University and the University of Utah will also be competing.
Head Coach Gregg Gensel said this will be a training meet for the team so it will be ready for its home meet April 20.
“This has kind of been a tough week for us as far as training is concerned,” he said. “We are working through this meet. We have a home meet next week and we want to have a good showing for that.”
The meet begins Saturday at 10 a.m. for the field events and 1 p.m. for the running events. Utah State will host the hammer throw on Friday at 3 p.m. because WSU doesn’t have the facilities to accommodate the event.
“This is unique in that our hammer throwers get to compete twice in a row at home,” Gensel said. “It’s always nice to perform close to home.”
Gensel said he expects improvement from all of the athletes at the meet.
“We’ll have good performances, but probably not the best because we are training through the meet,” he said. “I’m just expecting improvement from pretty much everybody. As a team effort, I think we’ll do well.”
Gensel said Brett Guymon, who was Big West Conference Track and Field Athlete of the Week March 26, and Josh Sides, this week’s Utah State University’s Athlete of the Week, should do particularly well.
In addition, Gensel said he expects the distance runners to be strong competitors as well as Kristi Connors and Sandra Reategui on the women’s side.
“I’m just expecting us to keep getting better,” he said. “That’s all I can hope for.”
Gensel said competing so close to home will be a nice change for the Aggies, who haven’t competed in Utah yet this outdoor season.
“It’s nice to be so close to home because those who want to come out and watch can,” he said.