After two straight weekends of big events stacked with tradition, the ASU track and field team finds itself in a slight midseason lull.
The Sun Devils are going to use this weekend at their own Sun Devil Open and at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational in La Jolla, Calif. to rest and prepare for the final stretch of the season, beginning with next weekend’s Double Dual in Tempe against Northern Arizona and UA.
“We’re going to try and take it easy to prepare for the Double Dual,” sophomore multi athlete Keia Pinnick said. “We’re all going to do one race a piece.”
ASU women’s sprint coach Kenny McDaniel will be monitoring the events his athletes run in and is taking this small lull as an opportunity to re-evaluate his group.
“I’m only letting my athletes run in one or two events,” McDaniel said. “We want to fine tune and sharpen up some stuff. I feel like we’ve been driving this truck for a long time. It’s time to get an oil change, get the belts changed, and it’s time to get that motor running again.”
That motor is going to need to be pumping on all cylinders in the upcoming weeks, with state bragging rights on the line at Sun Angel Stadium next weekend in the Double Dual and the Pac-10 championships three weeks away.
Pinnick needs to get tuned up a little sooner with the Pac-10 multis championships just two weeks away.
“I’m trying to do a multi for Pac-10s. So any chance I get to run the hurdles I’m just trying to get it down each time,” Pinnick said. “We’re working on technique and the small things that matter to bring the times down to get the most out of the event when it counts."
This kind of maintenance work is something that ties into the yearlong analogy that McDaniel has created for his sprint group.
McDaniel almost sees himself as a gardener tending to his field of athletes.
“We’re planting the seed,” McDaniel said, “and hopefully in a couple of weeks at the Pac-10 championships, we see a beautiful flower.”
There is still some work to do before the Sun Devils get to those championships, and McDaniel again trades in his gardening tools to evaluate with some mechanic’s grease.
“We don’t know what’s wrong with the engine, but after this weekend, I should know whether we need a new belt, new timing system, or some new radiator fluid,” McDaniel said. “This weekend, I’m going to sit back and see what we need to work on.”
Reach the reporter at zcavanag@asu.edu
