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ARLINGTON – For track fans, the indoor season is a mere warmup to the real thing. The real thing being the outdoor track and field season.
For the ACU Wildcats, the real thing begins this weekend when they compete in their first outdoor meet of the season at the University of Texas-Arlington's Bobby Lane Invitational. The college portion of the meet will be Saturday at Maverick Stadium.
The Wildcats are just two weeks past the completion of the indoor season where the men's team finished third at the NCAA Division II national meet and the women 13th.
But the outdoor season is almost a different sport.
The Wildcats will have more depth in the sprints, and their relay teams will have more punch.
One thing the Wildcats won't have, however, is two-time defending national champion discus thrower
Nick Jones. The junior from Amarillo is redshirting during the indoor season, but will be competing unattached this weekend in Arlington.
The Wildcats will trade Jones for
Tyler Fleet, who sat out the 2009 season. As a freshman, Fleet qualified for the national outdoor championship meet in the discus and spent last year working on his technique with throwing coach
Jerrod Cook.
The Wildcats also figure to get more out of hurdler
Kevin Johnson (transfer from Arkansas), who was getting his feet back under him during the indoor season. The men will also get a chance to show off what could be one of the nation's top 4x100 relay teams.
However, the Wildcats will also be without defending 100-meter hurdle national champion
Andrew McDowell, who is redshirting this spring.
On the women's side, senior
Kim Prather is back for one more outdoor season and one more shot at a national championship. She finished second in the 400 meters at last year's outdoor championship meet, an agonizing .01 of a second behind St. Augustine's quartermiler Angelique Smith (54.43 to Prather's 54.44).
Also, two-time national champion javelin thrower
Linda Brivule will be back in action as she tries to become the first female athlete in NCAA Division II history to win three straight national championships in the javelin.
