Alabama State University's track and field teams have completed their regular season and are now focused on the 2011 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Outdoor Championships.
The Championship is set to begin Friday, April 29, and will continue through Sunday, May 1. The three-day championship event will take place at Tad Gormley Stadium in New Orleans.
Both teams have been going against the best track and field performers in the nation and at some of the toughest events, like the Texas Relays in Austin, War Eagle Invitational at Auburn and the Coach “O” Classic at Troy University.
The Lady Hornets are looking to defend their 2010 outdoor title and add their sixth overall championship banner. Depth may be a challenge for the Lady Hornets, but head coach
Ritchie Beene continues to expect the best from his team.
“I know the ladies are looking to repeat, but that is not my goal,” Beene said. “My goal is for the ladies to go out and perform at their highest level and if they do that, then the repeat will take care of itself.”
“We are not as deep as I would like to see so we are putting some girls in extra events to pick up some points, and they have stepped up and taken the challenge. The women have the mindset of champions which is what a coach likes to see.”
The Hornets are looking to improve on their third place finish last season. Like the women, their numbers are down entering the championship due to several injuries and depth will be a factor in the long run.
“At the first of the season we had a lot more depth than we have now,” Beene said. “Now we are asking the guys to carry extra loads and to give us quality performances in all the events they are in. We have a solid group of seniors that have taken this challenge and are really leading this team.”
“Winning the championship is always difficult and it will be no different this year,” Beene said. “We know teams like Grambling are loaded and Texas Southern and Pine Bluff will score a lot of points, so it will take a little bit of luck on our part to pull out the championship, but we will expect no less from the guys.”
The 10,000m run will begin the competition on Friday at 9 a.m. The field events will begin at 10 a.m. which will begin with the men's javelin throw and the first day of the decathlon events. The first day of the heptathlon events will begin at 10:30 a.m.
The hammer throws for both men and women along with the pole vault will close out day one of the championship.
The conclusion of the decathlon and heptathlon events will begin Saturday's competition at 8 a.m. The shot put and long jumps begin at noon followed by time trials for the 100 and 110m hurdles, 400m dash, 100m dash and 800m run. The events on Saturday will end with finals of the 200m dash.
The final day of competition begins at 9 a.m. with the discus, triple jump and high jump trials and finals. At 1 p.m. the finals for the running events will begin and should end around 4 p.m. with the 1600 meter relay.
-HORNETS-
