USU’s Burton, Sides look to qualify for Nationals
With a chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, two Utah State track and field athletes will compete in the Last Chance Meet at Boise State University Saturday afternoon.
Freshman Kelli Burton and senior Josh Sides will both be competing at the shot put, and to qualify for Nationals both must throw farther than their personal best.
However, assistant coach Craig Carter said he feels this is a good possibility.
“There’s nothing on the line other than I’ve got to throw far,” he said. “There’s not a conference championship on the line or any of that stuff, which makes things a lot easier.”
Right now Sides is sitting in the 16 spot and must move into the 14 spot to go to the tournament. The thrower at the 15 spot threw three inches farther than 60.08.00, Sides’ personal best, and the next athlete is about seven inches beyond that.
For Burton to qualify for the NCAA tournament, she must beat her personal best of 15.58 meters by throwing 16 meters — a distance she said she feels confident she can beat.
“I think with the way I’ve been practicing, I should come pretty close to that,” she said. “I just have to go after it. I can’t hold anything back because I’ve got nothing to lose now.”
Carter has been working personally with both athletes in a manner that is beneficial to each, Sides said. For Sides, Carter has been focusing a lot on heavy weight lifting to keep his strength up.
With Burton, he has cut back on the weight to help make sure she will be fresh for the meet.
“Based on how we’ve been practicing, I think we’ll throw farther than we have,” Sides said. “At least I hope we throw farther.”
Then again, good conditioning and practice are only part of the job, Carter said.
To give Burton and Sides an even better chance of throwing farther, he said they need to be competing against good competition. With good competition, both USU athletes will get a little pumped up and throw a little farther, he said.
To help them in this area, additional throwing athletes will be competing in the meet, although they are not in positions to qualify for the tournament.
In addition to the throwers, USU athletes from other events will be competing in Idaho to show support for Burton and Sides, and to improve on their own.
Getting Burton and Sides qualified for the NCAA tournament will not only be good for the athletes themselves, Carter said, but it is also a great recruiting opportunity for the school.
–csmo@cc.usu.edu