SHSU headed to Birmingham CrossPlex Indoor
2/6/2014 8:35:00 AM | Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
The opportunity for the Sam Houston track and field team to compete at the famed Birmingham CrossPlex facility in Birmingham has offered Bearkat head coach David Self a sense of excitement since rumors began to swirl the building could serve as host for the Southland Conference indoor championships.
“We first kind of caught wind of it this summer at a coaches meeting,” Self said. “Bruce Ludlow, one of the conference commissioners said there was an availability to get in and I made it very, very clear from my point of view – as well as did most of the other coaches – that if we have a chance to get in this facility it would be good for the Southland.”
As it turned out for Sam Houston – and its conference counterparts – that hope became a reality. Birmingham will be the side of the league indoor championships in three weeks.
This weekend, the Kats head to Birmingham to the Samford Invitational in a tune-up meet on the course.
“It's kind of a dry run for the conference meet, “Self said. “[Southland members have] all tried to make at least one trip up there. I know it's a very big meet. There will be 32 teams there so the entries are limited on how many people we can put in a given event.”
The CrossPlex's hydraulically banked tracks make it one of only six in the United States and eight in the world. Specifically, the style of track allows competitors to maximize their speed.
“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.”
After spending their first three meets of the season alternating between travel to Houston and College Station, the 10-hour bus ride to Birmingham also presents challenges in itself.
“One of the reason's we're doing this too is that it's our first kind of big trip of the year,” Self said. “We've been 45 minutes and an hour away so we're going to try to break it up. Just really going on a bus and staying somewhere overnight we're trying to keep it as normal of a trip for the kids.”
The Samford Invitational will be the Kats second consecutive two-day meet and is set to run all day Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8 with three series of competitions including multi-events, field events and running events.
