PAGE 20 11 WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 2, 2009
SPORTS
the PENDULUM
Women use indoor track
season to hone outdoor skills
p
FILE PHOTO
Sophomore Amy Salek sprints around the track during an
Indoor track meet at Liberty University last season.
Sam Calvert
Assistant Sports Editor
On a hot September day, athletes
from Elon University began training
for the indoor track season, which
will finally launch Thursday for
most of the team.
For the past three months, the
members of the team have been
training Monday through Friday and
lifting weights three days a week,
head coach Mark Elliston said.
“We’ve been getting out there,
running against the clock, jumping
and hurdling, to get ready for the
season," Elliston said.
The first indoor track meet for
the Phoenix takes place Thursday,
when the team travels to Lynchburg,
Va., for the Liberty Kick-Off. This
will be the only meet the team has
before heading home for the winter
holidays.
The season continues until the
Southern Conference Championship
on Feb. 25 and 26 in Clemson, S.C.
There are two track seasons, the
indoor and the outdoor, and each is
distinct.
“It’s a different breathing
atmosphere because it’s all air being
circulated instead of the air outside,
which is harder,” junior distance
runner Emily Fournier said.
Because the team competes
under a roof for this season, it does
not have to deal with the weather,
Elliston said. It is always dry, and
the competitors do not ever have to
struggle with the wind.
“It’s the true test of an athlete,”
Fournier said. “There are no
environmental conditions holding
you back — no wind or rain and no
hills.”
There are also logistical
differences between the indoor and
outdoor seasons. The track itself is
smaller at indoor meets, measuring
200 meters instead of 400 at outdoor
tracks.
The 100 meter and 110 meter
hurdles, the 10,000 meter run,
the 3,000 meter steeplechase, the
400 meter hurdles and the javelin,
hammer and discus throws do not
take place indoors.
While differences exist between
the two seasons, one ultimately
leads into the other.
“We’re going to use the indoor
season to get ready for the outdoor
season,” Elliston said.
Last year, the Phoenix indoor
track team placed seventh in the
SoCon with 36 points.
The team finished 175 points
behind SoCon leader Appalachian
State University.
Elliston said he expects to at least
finish in fourth or fifth place in the
SoCon, but hopes to do even better.
“I'm really hoping that we come
together as a team and do a little
bit better than we did last year,”
Elliston said. “We want to break into
the top-three, compete hard and
stay healthy.”
Fournier said the team has high
expectations for the season. She
said the distance team is looking
to contribute more this season
than last, when it was plagued with
injuries.
There are 12 to 15 girls who can
compete on the distance team, and
not many girls who contributed
TRANSITIONING FROM CROSS
COUNTRY TO INDOOR TRACK
The meet on Thursday will not
be the first for 19, just less than half,
of the women on the indoor track
team. These competitors make up
the entire women's cross country
team.
Bliston said there are distance
events at the indoor track meets
and the competitors are expected to
come from the cross country team.
“Obviously, that's their spedalty.”
Bliston said. That's what they do."
Junior Emily Fournier, one of the
women who is making the transition
from cross country to indoor track,
said that training for competitions
during the cross country season
helps in the indoor track season.
"It builds a huge base for us —
all the miles that we train for cross
country and all the hill workouts,"
Fournier said. “There may not be any
hills on the track, but it still makes
you a stronger runner.”
points to the team graduated after
last season, Fournier said.
“We had a very young team and
we are going to come back stronger
than we were last year," Fournier
said.
Both Fournier and Elliston agreed
the first test for the team will be at
the Liberty Kick-Off.
“This meet is just going to let us
see where we are,” Elliston said. “It'll
give them a good idea of how much
work they need to do for the rest of
the season.”
WHAT DO WAITT
FOR UNLIMITED CHANCES TO
WIN THESE GREAT PRIZES
PLUS GIFT CARDS, SONG
DOWNLOADS AND MORE
INSTANTLY! LOG ON NOW AT
WWW.JAMREWARDS.COM
Time is running out!
" TlAe