Coming off a successful weekend in College Station, Texas, the Crimson Tide’s women’s track and field team heads to the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships to compete for its second title on Feb. 25- 27, in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Tide’s last SEC Championship dates back to 1994 with Alabama falling to the bottom of the rankings every year after. With several women breaking their personal bests each week, the Tide looks to rise to the top.
“The entire team is competing very well and very hard,” said head coach Sandy Fowler. “It’s about how an athlete adjusts to the caliber of competition. It’s about who embraces it and uses to go forward.”
Two weekends ago, the Tide competed in the Texas A&M Challenge against some of the nation’s toughest competition. The Tide led the SEC to a third place finish with several women breaking their personal best records.
Junior Amethyst Holmes won the Texas A&M Challenge weight throw competition beating her personal best mark. Junior Kaylon Eppinger beat two of her previous personal records in the long jump and hurdles. In the mile, junior Sarah Gilmore recorded a personal best. Junior Toni Graham and senior Devon Romero finished with new personal bests in the 200m dash, while the Tide’s 4x400m relay team also ran a season best.
Twelve SEC women’s teams will compete over the weekend for a chance to gain the SEC title and related honors. Five of the 12 teams are nationally ranked in the top 25, including: LSU (2), Arkansas (4), Tennessee (6), Florida (21) and Auburn (24).
With the SEC ranked as the second best conference in women’s track and field, the SEC Championships should be one of the most competitive meets in the nation.
“At the SEC Championships, we know who is at the meet,” Eppinger said. “Although we know what those people have [accomplished], we can’t ever count anyone out. On any given day the best can be beaten. We are all working harder than ever.”
After nine top-10 finishes against teams in the Pac-10, Big 12, SEC and Conference USA, Fowler said the team is ready to compete.
“I always look at the SEC meet as being a mini national championship,” Fowler said. “In every event across the board [in the Texas A&M Challenge], we had national leaders or top five competitors. If you lead into the SEC Championships with a meet like that, you will be able to perform and have the confidence levels to compete in the SEC.”
After the Indoor SEC Championships, the Tide will head off to South Bend, Ind., to compete in the Alex Wilson Invitational and the Virginia Tech Last Chance Meet on Mar. 4-5. The following weekend begins the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships and kicks off Alabama’s outdoor season.
