Sophomore Kellie Harunk runs at the Emory Crossplex Invitational. Certain Eagles will travel to either Eastern Tennessee State University or the University of South Carolina. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics.
With their indoor season now under way, the Emory men’s and women’s track and field teams will split up and head to Eastern Tennessee State University to compete in the Buccaneer Track and Field Invitational and to the University of South Carolina for the USC Open this weekend.
While many middle and long distance runners are competing at ETSU, pole vaulters, a sprinter and a hurdler will travel to USC.
“[ETSU] is primarily a meet where we will focus on middle and long distance runners,” Head Coach John Curtin said. “The next couple weeks are pretty much going to tell us how good we are and what we need to improve on. I think we are going to see season best performances out of everyone.”
Throughout the season, Eagles have been stepping up to fill gaps left by graduation.
“We have had a strong indoor season so far, and a lot of talent from our freshman class,” sophomore Kyle Veator said. “Our freshmen are filling gaps that graduated team members left.”
The men’s distance medley relay is predicted by Curtin to do well at ETSU. Sophomore Grant Murphy, freshmen Jordan Flowers and Max Brown and sophomore Ian McIsaac will work together to get the best time possible. At the Eastern Tennessee State University Invitational, the first invitational of the season, Brown finished sixth in the 800-meter run with an impressive 1:58.38 time, while Flowers finished third in the 3,000-meter run with a 8:59.50 time.
Curtin also predicts freshman Shane Sullivan to impress in the mile run at ETSU, and senior Tyler Cooke to improve his time in the 5K.
Curtin will be looking towards some of his high-profile runners on the women’s team to improve their times this weekend. Senior Stephanie Crane who impressed at the Eastern Tennessee State University Invitational. She won the unseeded 800-meter run with a time of 2:20.68, and won the unseeded mile in 5:18.13 minutes.
Senior Elise Viox will also be looking to improve. At the Emory Crossplex Invitational in Birmingham, Viox led her distance relay team along with freshmen Halle Markel, Erica Fischer and Gabrielle Stravach to a sixth-place finish.
Many athletes have an ultimate goal of getting their times down in order to qualify for nationals.
“We are mostly concentrated on winning [the University Athletic Association Championship] and scoring as many points as we can for the indoor championship next month,” Veator said.
There will be good competition at the Buccaneer Track & Field Invitational, and the Emory Eagles are up for the competition. The Eagles will race at ETSU today, Feb. 6. Tomorrow, Feb. 7, certain Eagles will compete at ETSU and others at USC.
-By Michael Scheck, Staff Writer
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