Several members of the men’s and women’s track and field teams will be heading down to Gainesville, Fla., this weekend to compete in the Florida Relays.
Senior Evan Hawkins and juniors Roseline Addo and Jennifer Howard will be competing in the Invitational 400-meter dash, their first opportunity to race their specialty this outdoor season.
“It will give them a chance to see where they are at,” track and field Head Coach Matt High said.
Hawkins ran 47 minutes, 82 seconds for his first 400-meter dash of the indoor season at the Rob McCray Invitational at the University of Kentucky.
He will look to have that same kind of success and open his outdoor season on a high note in the event that he has won three Southern Conference Championships.
Hawkins will also be competing in the Invitational 200-meter dash at the Florida Relays, hoping to improve on his personal record (PR) of 21: 55 seconds he set in winning the conference indoor title.
Addo and Howard will also be competing in the 400-meter dash as the two hope to run good times in their first 400-meter dashes since the indoor conference championships.
The duo has finished first and second in the past three conference championships and got together to help the Lady Bucs win the 4-x-400-meter relay at the indoor championships.
They continued that momentum with a victory this past weekend in the 4×400-meter relay at the Clemson Relays and hope it will carry to the Southern Conference Outdoor Championships.
“The pressure is definitely on the 4-x4-00,” High said. “But if everyone runs to their capability, they’ll be able to defend.”
“Jennifer Howard has really stepped up since the indoor season,” he said. “She ran 54.9 seconds on her relay split (in the 4-x-400 at the Clemson Relays).”
Josh Artau and Lauren Campbell will also be competing at the Florida Relays.
Artau will be competing in the throwing events and has been a good addition to the Buccaneer Track and Field program.
“Josh Artau has been doing really well in the throws,” High said.
Artau won the shot put (46 feet 1.5 inches) and hammer throw (134’11”) at the Western Carolina Invitational and took first place in the javelin throw (190’03”) at the Clemson Relays.
Campbell will be competing in the 1,500-meter run due to her strong performance in that event at the Western Carolina Invitational in which she ran 4 minutes, 47.7 seconds.
Even though both teams are still in the early stages of their season, some of the results have been encouraging, said High.
“Some are ahead of schedule and some are two steps behind,” he said. “The ones that work hard in practice are definitely ahead of schedule, the ones that don’t are two steps behind.”
“The majority of the group is in good shape and some are lacking the intensity and desire to get to the next level,” High said.
The rest of the track squad will be training this weekend and preparing to compete in either the Duke Invitational April 6-7 or the Gatorade Invitational at the University of Tennessee, also April 6-7. In three weeks the Bucs and Lady Bucs will be competing at the Sea Ray Relays at the University of Tennessee and at UNC Asheville in the final meet before the Southern Conference Outdoor Championships April 19-21 at VMI.

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