Track teams competing abroad

With six different meets occurring simultaneously, the University of South Dakota’s track and field teams will be busy starting Wednesday and continuing through Saturday. The Coyotes will compete at five meets in California and one in Sioux City.

Men’s

Senior Tane Owens, a pole vaulter, will attend the Mt. SAC Relays and the Long Beach Invite, both in California. Owens said he’s looking forward to the ideal conditions.

“There’s a really good chance of good weather which is kind of why we go,” Owens said. “It’s a combination of good weather and good competition — it’s about the best conditions you can have to do well.”

While Owens will travel to the west coast, Gottsleben said he will be traveling with other athletes to the Sioux City Relays. All the meets will serve as an indicator to where the team stands in the preliminaries for the NCAA

Division I West Region, Gottsleben said.

“The philosophy of the bigger meets is trying to get great competition so that you can get a mark to be able to see where you fall in that NCAA regionals list,” Gottsleben said.

During the outdoor season, the Coyotes will have their first chance ever to qualify for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. To qualify, athletes need to be one of the top 48 individuals or top 24 relay teams in that respective event within the West.

Owens said the pressure at times can be stressful but he’s trying to remain focused.

“I guess you could say I’m jumping high enough to get (in the top 48) but I haven’t put the pieces together yet,” Owens said. “There’s the pressure to do it, but in the back of my mind there’s a lot of meets left and I’m working on a few little things and I’m still confident that I’ll get some of those bars.”

In addition to the, at times, nerve-wracking pressure, Owens said the meets will help get the athletes motivated and in Owens’ case, push him to new heights.

“If you’re running against some of the best kids in the country, then you’re going to run faster to try and compete with them,” Owens said. “You may not win but you could post a pretty good time that will put you in that top 48, and that’s kind of how it is with everyone right now — we need to start competing against better people because you always rise up to the level of your competition.”

Women’s

The primary focus for the women’s team will be put on the Mt. SAC Relays in California, women’s head coach Lucky Huber said.

“Mt. SAC is a very competitive meet. There’ll be teams from all over the country coming in to compete; so that’s kind of the highlight meet,” Huber said.

Because there are a number of meets going on, this week will be a good chance for all athletes to participate, Huber said.

“It’s just a really big weekend for our kids to be able to get out and everybody gets to compete,” Huber said. “It makes it a really exciting weekend and a really critical weekend in our season as we look at trying to get ready for the Drake Relays where very few kids get to compete, so it’s a chance for those kids to get a chance to earn their conference spots.”

Along with Owens, senior pole vaulter Haley Peterson will be traveling to California to compete in the Mt. SAC Relays and the Long Beach Invite. These will be the first competitions of the season for Peterson after suffering a hamstring injury.

“I always like going somewhere new because new surroundings always get you excited and motivated to jump high,” Peterson said. “I jumped well last year (in California), so I feel like I have the confidence to go in and jump well.”

With six meets going on simultaneously, individualizing each workout for each athlete is necessary, Huber said.

“When you’re the cook in the kitchen, you’ve got to make sure all the ingredients are right,” Huber said. “Some kids need a little bit more work and some need a little more rest. We really just try to balance it. That’s really the art of coaching there — figuring when to push the gas and when to pull the reigns.”

Wherever the Coyotes are competing, Peterson said they’re looking to turn some heads and make some noise in the NCAA Division I western region.

“I think we’re going to show that we’re going to be able to compete when we go Division-I,” Peterson said. “We have a lot of people that are ranked pretty high right now and qualifying for nationals — we’re going to show that we’re competitive.”

Reach reporter Emma Murray at [email protected].