This will be the last tuneup before show time.

The track and field team heads to four different invitational meets this weekend, before recovering for SEC competition starting Feb. 26. 

Distance runners will compete in the Iowa State Classic. Some of the sprinters will go to Arkansas, while the rest will stay within the state’s borders in Birmingham. The throwers will be in Louisiana competing in the LSU High Performance meet.

Sophomore Daniel Haugh said the throwers are all looking to improve and break personal records this weekend as they prepare for SECs in two weeks. He said the team views this weekend’s invitational as prep for the SEC competition.

“Personal records will be broken this weekend and at SECs when we are supposed to be in our prime condition for competing,” Haugh said. “We motivate each other mainly by ramping up the intensity in the weight room by playing loud music, and sometimes smacking each other to get fired up.”

Freshman Skyler Bowden has big hopes for this weekend and SEC competition. Last weekend at the New Mexico Classic, he broke his personal record in the 200 meters with a 21.41.

“This weekend I hope to hit a 46.00 in the 400 meters, which would be a personal record for me and qualify for SECs,” he said. 

With some of the seniors not in ideal physical conditions at the moment, Bowden and his teammates are looking to contribute extra this weekend at the Tyson Invitational in Arkansas. 

“Most of our seniors are hurt right now so we already have a lot of young guys stepping up,” he said.

Haugh said, as an athlete, you get to know a lot of fellow athletes around the NCAA and become friends with them. This weekend will allow athletes to reconnect. 

“It’s always good to go to an invitational like the one this weekend and compete with people you are close with,” he said.