For the first time all season, ASU track and field competed at home.
The team started the outdoor season at Sun Angel Stadium last weekend, competing in the Baldy Castillo Invite. This week, they will be home again for the Pac-12 Big-10 Challenge. The meet will be stacked with Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana and Penn State, competing against Arizona, Washington, California and ASU.
That means the Sun Devils and Wildcats will be on the same team.
ASU head track coach Greg Kraft acknowledges the rivalry between the two schools, but he wants his team to be focused on the task at hand.
“Our biggest competition always is within ourselves, just to improve,” Kraft said. “That’s the beauty of track and field, you try to have strong competition and so that’s why U of A comes up here, is to seek out the competition that comes to Tempe, so I think it’s the same thing for them."
With this big meet taking place at its home field, ASU has to make adjustments to how it will compete, but redshirt freshman pole-vaulter Matthew Eckles said he feels more comfortable competing at home.
"There's a certain level of familiarity and comfort with being home,” Eckles said. “Also proud to protect your house, it definitely gets me more amped up but at the same time, I can control all the emotions because it’s a place that I practice every day at.”
Kraft wants his players to treat the weekend like any normal meet. He said having significant people in your life attending track meets can improve focus, it also has the potential to create a distraction.
“It can be a distraction because you can have people come in visiting from out of town and they take you out of your routine," he said. "They don’t mean harm, but maybe they want to go out and shop Saturday afternoon before the Saturday evening meet. They don’t get that they have to be off their feet, resting and getting ready for the task at hand."
The biggest adjustment the team needs to make is dealing natural weather in an outdoor environment instead of an indoor arena. Redshirt sophomore thrower Maggie Ewen said there’s definitely a difference between competing indoor and outdoor.
“All of your focus going from two events to three events and two of those events are completely different than anything you did in indoors,” Ewen said. “It’s kind of a lot more to juggle mentally.”
This weather wasn’t a big issue at Baldy Invite. It was hot, but the wind, the biggest factor, was non-existent. This week, the weather isn’t expected to be ideal; the wind is building up and the heat seems to be at the same strength as last week. Kraft said the wind is something that “wrecks havoc."
“It always seems to be somewhat of a crosswind and so when you’re trying to get your steps on and you’re trying to place standards (and) make a pole selection, having that variable of difficult wind is a challenge," he said. "I think It’s a good mental challenge for all our student-athletes.”
Reach the reporter at osoussi@asu.edu or follow @omarksoussi on Twitter.
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