After a strong performance on their home track to begin the outdoor portion of the track season, the Arizona track and field teams are off to Tempe to compete in the Arizona State Invitational this Saturday.
The meet will be a faceoff between three Pac-12 Conference schools and three Big-10 Conference schools, with Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA from the Pac-12, and Nebraska, Michigan and Indiana from the Big-10. About 60 athletes will represent the Wildcats in the meet.
Going into the meet, Arizona senior Sam Macaluso will be running the 1,500-meter race. Macaluso is normally a 5k runner but has been doing the 1,500 run to begin the season. In the Willie Williams Classic last weekend, he finished second in the 1,500, finishing behind his teammate Collins Kibet; his other teammates, Kevin Bierig and Michael Godbout, finished in third and fourth place.
Macaluso said he enjoys competing against his fellow teammates because they work together and motivate each other, and that he looks forward to competing with them again this weekend.
Macaluso also said he looks forward to the heightened competition that will present itself with fellow Pac-12 schools and Big-10 schools being there. To prepare for the elevated competition, Macaluso said he has been training very hard this week for the meet and looks to improve from his 1,500 performance last weekend.
“I would have [liked] to have run better [last weekend], but it was still a good start to the season,” Macaluso said.
Macaluso also said it will be important to go into this weekend’s meet with a different mindset, ready to compete with the elevated competition. While continuing to train hard in preparation for the weekend, Macaluso said it is also essential to remember the little things, such as getting good sleep, maintaining a healthy diet and staying hydrated.
Arizona track and field coach Fred Harvey said in an Arizona Athletics video that he feels the team is ready for the meet this weekend after a strong performance in the Willie Williams Classic. In the Arizona State Invitational, Harvey said he plans to put athletes in their more specific events this weekend, after experimenting a little bit at the Willie Williams Classic.
“The way they competed there was absolutely tremendous,” Harvey said in the video. “The number of [personal records] we’ve seen in the competition really gave me a lot of excitement and confidence going into the outdoor season and heading up to Arizona State.”
Harvey said he also feels confident about how his team will do in the relay events. They used the Willie Williams Classic to experiment with different combinations and teams, and he said he feels they will build even more this weekend to find their best relay teams.
The meet will begin Saturday at noon and will continue throughout the day. The Wildcats look to continue to build and progress as the outdoor season ensues.
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