Kats Kick off 2014 Campaign Saturday
1/9/2014 2:26:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
After four months of preparation, the Sam Houston State women's track and field squad will open up its portion of the indoor schedule at the Houston Indoor Opener this Saturday – the squad's first of a handful of tests leading up to the Southland Conference Championships in late February.
“You do something that very few people find fun as it is and you do it every day,” fifth-year head coach David Self said. “Then you go run a meet on Saturday. The first eight weeks we try to get back in the swing of things; a lot of light weight room stuff. [Afterwards] we go into 20 hour weeks and it's just full scale training six days a week.”
The Kats schedule features three meets in Houston, one in College Station and another in Birmingham, Ala. before wrapping up the slate with the NCAA Indoor Championships and the conference championships. For Self's squad, a unique highlight is the opportunity to compete twice at Birmingham's famed CrossPlex which features raised and lowered bank tracks – it is only one of six of its kind in the United States.
“We don't get a lot of opportunities to get on bank tracks which is a huge difference in our sport,” Self said. “I kind of relate it to NASCAR fans. Just imagine if a NASCAR short track was flat, how much slower it would be. That's the difference between a bank track and a flat track. We're going to go to the CrossPlex one time just to get the lay of the land, take a look around and see what it's like when we go back three weeks later.”
Sam Houston returns 26 athletes from a 2013 squad that finished second at the conference championships including sprinter Lygia Foreman who is the school record holder in the 400 meters and Danielle Demas who was the runner-up in the 60 meter hurdles.
“We bring a lot of the heavy hitters back from last year,” Self said. “It has been us and SFA. We've been the class of the conference for the last few years. SFA has been riding that wave, especially on the women's side. We feel that we're poised to do big things.”
The Kats are anxious to get back on the track in an official capacity and Saturday's trip down I-45 is just the beginning of a fast-paced indoor schedule.
“For some of the younger kids, it's their first college meet,” Self said. “We just want them to get out and compete. Compete hard, have a good time, lay your ears back and be tough.”
