By: by Scott Lipsky
Gem of the Hills Heet Sheets
Florida Relays Heat Sheet
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls women’s track and field squad continues their outdoor schedule this weekend when they split up their team and travel to the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla., and the Gem of the Hills Invitational at Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Ala.
Coming off a weekend at Western Carolina that featured four new school records, six event victories, and a total of 16 top-three finishes, head coach Don McGarey’s squad will try and take that momentum south, where teams predominantly from Georgia and Alabama will take part in the one-day Gem of the Hills Invitational at Jacksonville State.
The distance runners, who were mostly idle last weekend, will be back in action, but in some unusual events. Instead of having his squad exclusively run their traditional steeplechase, 3000, 5000, and 10000 meter events, distance coach and track and field associate head coach Stan Sims will have them running in events such as the 4x400 relay, the 1500 meters, and the 800 meters.
Junior Mackenzie Howe and senior Britany Reilly will both be making their outdoor debuts this season. Reilly is expected to run in the 5000 meters, while Howe will participate in some of the alternative distance events.
“We figure it will be a good way to give our runners a different look, a different type of intensity on race day,” Sims said. “As far as time, it will be interesting to see what we come up with, but I’m looking forward to taking them a little but outside of their comfort zones.”
With the vast majority of the track team in Jacksonville for the weekend, sophomore Victoria Jackson and freshman Cynthia Davis are joining10 members of the men’s team on their trip down Florida, to compete in the Florida Relay at the Percy Beard Track in Gainesville.
Jackson and Davis, both sprinters, each have performed extremely well throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons, and will have the opportunity to face competition from across the collegiate spectrum this weekend. Jackson tied the program’s 100 Meter record last week, running the event in 12.02 seconds.
Heat sheets and performance lists for both events will be posted as soon as they become available.
