Poly track and field team set to open season at UCLA meet Saturday

The Cal Poly track and field team will kick off the 2007 season Saturday at the UCLA All-Comers Meet in Drake Stadium.

Thirty-five Mustang athletes will be competing against several other California teams including Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton and Division II schools Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Los Angeles.

“It’s a chance to see where people are at and it’s a ‘rust-buster’ to get the competitive season rolling,” said Cal Poly assistant coach Mark Conover, who specializes in distance running.

The open meet, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, will give the Mustangs a chance to feel out their spots and get some real, timed runs in against future competitors as well as post-collegiate and redshirt athletes.

“I think that everyone wants to go out there on Saturday and put down some good solid marks,” Cal Poly senior high jumper Sharon Day said. “Maybe we will have a few regional qualifying marks. But I think that this meet is a good tune-up, experience meet for the younger people on our squad.”

The Mustangs lost a number of outstanding seniors from last year, including Big West Conference Male Athlete of the Year Luke Llamas and Deirdre Byrne, holder of the fourth fastest 1,500-meter run time in Cal Poly women’s history.

But a number of younger athletes have stepped up to help fill the gaps.

“We do have a very young squad, with a lot of new talented sprinters on the women’s side,” Day said. “I think a lot of our strength will come from our younger team members this year – freshmen and sophomores.”

The Mustangs have been hard at work with months of intense training, as well as some competition for those who participated on the women’s indoor track team.

“We have all been training hard from the fall through this quarter getting a good training base,” Day said. “Some of the women’s team has had the opportunity to compete in a couple of indoor meets to tune up for this outdoor season.”

The outdoor track season runs all the way through June 23, the conclusion of the USATF Championships in Indianapolis.

Cal Poly’s only home meet is the Cal Poly Invitational on March 17.

“They have been training hard since October,” assistant coach Jack Hoyt said. “We are just trying to see where we are at and give these young athletes a chance to get their feet wet with college competition.”