The Ball State University track and field team opens its outdoor season this weekend as it participates in the Polar Bear Invitational on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University.
Despite it being a non-scored event, the Cardinals will come in with a dominating mentality. After last month's 10th-place finish in the Mid-American Conference indoor championships, coach Randy Heisler did not want his team sitting out for a month.
"We practiced the Monday after the [conference] meet," Heisler said. "The only break we had was Spring Break."
Heisler also said that he expects several athletes to emerge this outdoor season.
"Our last three meets we kept getting better and better," Heisler said. "We had a number of kids that had season bests."
He said it was also imperative that the team does not miss a beat, beginning with tomorrow's meet.
"We're going to dedicate the first six to eight weeks of this outdoor season to training," Heisler said. "Training hard."
In accordance to what Heisler describes as a training exercise, all runners will run in events different from what they have participated in during the indoor season.
"Everybody is going to run up, meaning that our 200 meter runners will run in the 400, 400 meter runners will run in the 800 and the 800 meter runners will run in the 1600 meter race."
Ball State goes up against teams of different levels of competition, including NCAA Division II, Division III and teams from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Heisler expects nothing short of a breakout performance by the team as a whole.
"It doesn't matter who we see in the meet, we should win in every event," Heisler said. "We need to go in there and dominate. We're not a NAIA school, we're not a Division III, we're not Division II. We are Division I and we need to act like it."
Located in Marion, Ind., just 36 miles north of the Ball State campus, this weekend's meet is the closest site to home that the team will run its events throughout the outdoor season. For freshman hurdler Alyssa Hurlburt, this weekend's meet will carry a big impact as a large contingent of friends and family is expected to be there.
Hurlburt says she is excited for the opportunity and anticipates great results after the two prior weeks of practice.
Like Heisler, Hurlburt expects the same attitude out of everyone else.
"Everybody did really well in the indoor meet [at Indiana Wesleyan] so hopefully, we can repeat that," she said.
Today's invitational will begin at 11:00 a.m. with running and field events starting simultaneously.
WHO: Ball State University outdoor track and field teams
WHAT: 22nd Annual Polar Bear Invitational
WHEN: 11 a.m.
WHERE: Indiana Wesleyan University – Marion, Ind.
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