Buffs Start Outdoor Season
BOULDER - Just one week after the University of Colorado competed at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Buffs will start the outdoor season with the Northridge Relays on March 20 and 21 and the Potts Invitational on Saturday, March 22. The field events will kick off the day at 9 a.m. with the men's hammer throw and women's javelin. The running events are set to start at 12 p.m. with the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The Potts Invite will be the first of three meets Colorado will host this spring. The Buffs will also host the CU Invite on April 12. The 2008 Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be held at Potts Field for the first time in conference history on May 16-18. It is the first outdoor track and field championship at CU since the Big Eight in 1993.
With the outdoor season returning, that means several Buffs will be getting back to the grind. Pete Janson, Billy Nelson, Stephen Pifer, Rob Thayer and Brent Vaughn all have outdoor eligibility remaining. Jenny Barringer returns to the women's team after not competing during indoors. Jacquie Faust, a graduate student at CU and a transfer from Truman State University, will look to make her mark on as a member of the women's team in the 5 and 10k races this spring.
James Begley also only has outdoor eligibility remaining and will look to lead the Buff throwers into action in the hammer, shot put and discus. Kevin Fasing, who took second at the 2007 USA Track & Field Junior Championships, will lead an experienced group of javelin throwers. Ryan Campbell and Jeremy Dodson will look to continue their dominance in the sprints.
Kaity Kark and Chynna McCall are the elder female throwers and should have a break out season. The Buffs have a young group of sprinters and will look to Veronica Maul and Dyamond Seay for leadership.
The Buffaloes will compete against several Front Range schools this weekend. Colorado College, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State, Mesa State, Metro State, Northern Colorado, Oklahoma State, UC-Colorado Springs and Wyoming, as well South Dakota Tech will make up the field. The invitational is a non-team scoring meet.
The Buffs' combined event athletes kick off their season at the Northridge Relays in Northridge, Calif. Alex Von Hagen and Adam Salzmann will compete in the Decathlon and Chelsea Haverty, Troi Smith and Max Van Dyke will participate in the heptathlon.
The forecast for Saturday's meet is a high of 44, partly cloudy and a 50 percent chance of precipitation. Should inclement weather force a cancellation of the meet, such notice will be posted on www.CUBuffs.com as well as a message left on the track and field office voice mail at 303/492-5227.
The schedule of events for the Potts Invitational is listed below:
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
FIELD EVENTS
9:00 a.m. MEN'S HAMMER
following men's hammer WOMEN'S HAMMER
following women's hammer MEN'S SHOT PUT
following men's shot put WOMEN'S SHOT PUT
9:00 WOMEN'S JAVELIN
following women's javelin MEN'S JAVELIN
11:00 WOMEN'S POLE VAULT
following women's pole vault MEN'S POLE VAULT
11:00 WOMEN'S LONG JUMP
following women's long jump MEN'S LONG JUMP
12:00 p.m. WOMEN'S HIGH JUMP
following women's high jump MEN'S HIGH JUMP
following men's long jump WOMEN'S TRIPLE JUMP
following women's triple jump MEN'S TRIPLE JUMP
following men's shot MEN'S DISCUS
following men's discus WOMEN'S DISCUS
RUNNING EVENTS
12:00 p.m. WOMENS STEEPLE
12:20 MENS STEEPLE
12:35 WOMEN'S 4X100 RELAY
12:40 MEN'S 4X100 RELAY
12:45 WOMEN'S 1500 METERS
12:55 MEN'S 1500 METERS
1:05 100 METER HURDLES
1:20 110 METER HURDLES
1:30 WOMEN'S 400 METER RUN
1:40 MEN'S 400 METER RUN
2:00 WOMEN'S 100 METER DASH
2:10 MEN'S 100 METER DASH
2:25 WOMEN'S 800 METER RUN
2:40 MEN'S 800 METER RUN
2:50 WOMEN'S 400 METER HURDLES
3:00 MEN'S 400 METER HURDLES
3:10 WOMEN'S 200 METER DASH
3:20 MEN'S 200 METER DASH
3:30 WOMEN'S 3000 RUN
3:45 MEN'S 3000 RUN
4:00 WOMEN'S 4X400 RELAY
4:10 MEN'S 4X400 RELAY
All field events will be on a rolling schedule. Running events will follow the time schedule above.