The Alabama track and field team will return to Tuscaloosa this weekend for the Crimson Tide Invite. The all-day Saturday meet is the team’s third event of the outdoor season and the second at Sam Bailey Track and Field Stadium.
Head coach Dan Waters said his athletes are looking forward to defending their turf.
“It will be great to compete on our home track,” Waters said. “The weather should be good on Saturday, so it’s a great chance for our team to show what they can do in a home meet.”
The team is coming off a solid performance at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta, Ga., where it claimed victories in three relay events and five individual competitions, including senior Alexis Paine’s school-record breaking pole vault outing. Paine notched a vertical of 14 feet 7 1/4 inches”, breaking the previous record, her own, by 10 inches.
With Tide records having recently been broken by freshman Elias Hakansson in the hammer throw and Paine in the pole vault, Waters noted the progress the team has made early in the outdoor season.
“I’ve been encouraged,” he said. “We are a more diverse team this year as our strengths go. If we can be consistent and stay focused and healthy, I am optimistic that we can develop into a good team this season.”
Bama will be facing Southeastern Conference opponents Missouri and Mississippi State this weekend, along with Big Ten competitors Nebraska, Penn State and the Minnesota women’s team. The Mississippi State Bulldogs currently have the No. 13 men’s team, while Penn State and Nebraska also have nationally ranked squads.
Though Waters said this weekend’s match won’t be scored, he welcomed the competition as a good indicator of the Tide’s ability.
“Mississippi State and Missouri are conference rivals, so we went up against them at the SEC indoor meet,” he said. “Penn State and Minnesota are good programs. This should be a good measuring stick – good schools to compete against.”
With another month to go before the SEC outdoor championships, Alabama has time to develop last year’s No. 3 recruiting class. Waters acknowledged that the raw talent on the squad is progressing as the season goes along, but added that the team hasn’t quite reached its ceiling.
“We’ve had a good start to our outdoor season, but it’s time for us to take things to another level,” he said.
The Crimson Tide will head to Athens, Ga., next weekend to compete in the Spec Towns Invitational, followed by a date at the LSU Alumni Gold competition in Baton Rouge, La., the weekend after.
