After the team’s self-proclaimed midterms of the indoor championship season, the cram sessions revert to the, at times, mundane daily work.
The ASU track and field team gets back to that work with the second weekend of the outdoor season, as the Sun Devils host the ASU Invitational and travel to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational, both on Friday and Saturday.
As the days of this season go on, anyone associated with this program can tell you it begins to drag and wear on you, which is part of the challenge of leading a track and field team, ASU coach Greg Kraft said.
“The highs can’t be too high, and the lows can’t be too low because there’s another race around the corner,” Kraft said.
The success of the indoor season or the individual low points of it can’t be taken to heart. They can only be used as something to build off of for the outdoor season.
The small building blocks also must be handled with care.
“There’s so much built on rest and recovery,” Kraft said.
The other important aspect of the outdoor season will be on display this weekend, as the Sun Devils will be able to get an early measure of their Pac-10 competition at the Stanford Invitational.
On Wednesday, preseason national outdoor track rankings were released and put the first measure on ASU’s competition.
The women’s team debuted at No. 16 in the opening national outdoor team rankings behind No. 2 Oregon, No. 5 USC and No. 14 Stanford from the Pac-10, all three of which will be in Palo Alto this weekend.
“For the women, Oregon has got to be stamped the favorite,” Kraft said.
The men started even further behind, being unranked with six Pac-10 teams ranked ahead of them in No. 6 USC, No. 7 Stanford, No. 12 Oregon, No. 21 Washington, No. 24 UCLA and No. 25 California. All but the UCLA men’s team will be at the Stanford Invitational.
“On the men’s side, Oregon was up there, but they lost a lot,” Kraft said. “USC is going to be really good.”
Instead of gauging the Pac-10 on lists, events like this in Stanford are huge in ASU’s development through a season. The Sun Devils will be able to compete directly against their big opponents and get a better gauge of what to strive for.
Back home in Tempe, ASU will be hosting its second meet of the season as well as some big competition from the Big 12.
The No. 1 women’s team and No. 2 men’s team from Texas A&M highlight the field, as well as the split squads of women’s No. 4 and men’s No. 15 Oklahoma. Men’s No. 19 Kansas State and women’s No. 24 Baylor will also compete against the split squad ASU women’s team.
The measuring stick is set high, and this weekend should let the Sun Devils see just how high that mark is.
Reach the reporter at zcavanag@asu.edu
