Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Track Heads to A-Sun Championships
4/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 11, 2006
Boca Raton, FL - All of the practices, all of the meets, all of the hours of preparation boil down to one weekend for the Florida Atlantic University women's track and field team. On April 14 - 15 in Clermont, FL at the National Training Center the Atlantic Sun Conference will crown its 2006 Outdoor Champion.
"I think the thing that makes track and field so difficult, is that so much of your success or failure is based on one meet," Alex Smolka, FAU's head track and field coach said. "It puts a lot of pressure on coaches and student-athletes because the entire season really depends on one weekend. I think we've prepared as best we could for this upcoming championship. We had a very short turn around between the indoor and outdoor championships, but I feel overall the team has responded extremely well to that challenge.
Regardless of the outcome, I'm extremely proud of the hard work the team has put in over this entire season. Win or lose I think we'll be able to look each other in the eyes and say we gave it our best shot."
The Owls have hit their stride after a wide-spread team illness slowed them in the early going. New school records have been set, including Jian Jones' mark of 5-7 in the high jump, and numerous personal-best times have been posted in the last few meets.
FAU has 20 top-five times among conference competitors across the performance list for the outdoor season, and three A-Sun top marks including Raynell Hagberg (2:10.85) in the 800m, Yanique Booth (14.02 seconds) in the 100m hurdles, and Jones' mark of 5-7 in the high jump.
The Indoor Track and Field Championship gave the Owls a strong lift heading into the outdoor season, thanks to a second-place, 119 point-effort. FAU finished just 14 points behind conference champion Jacksonville.
