Track and field head coach Greg Kraft expects his team to answer a lot of questions in the Indoor Lumberjack Team Challenge on Jan. 16.
"Every team is new and unique so you like to see how people respond to competition," he said. "We’ve trained, we’ve had a wonderful fall, made a lot of progress but in our sport, every person on our team is measured to the hundredth of a second or to the nearest centimeter."
ASU will start their season in Flagstaff against multiple teams across the western part of the U.S., which includes UCLA, Arizona and San Diego State University.
"We’re just looking forward to going up there and just seeing how kids respond to a different environment but also a competitive environment," Kraft said.
The ASU team has a lot of key returners from last year’s team, several of which competed in big-money events last year like the ASU Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational and the Pac-12 championship.
The program also got some young talent from across the country. One of these athletes is freshman Jeremy Wright, and he chose the program not just because of its history but because the team felt like a family.
“Track’s an individual sport but building up to everything like that, we do everything together, so it’s real important to me that I feel comfortable and our whole team feels comfortable around each other,” Wright said.
The team feels pressure to perform better than last year after a disappointing season. Coaches say the team is built off group success, not that of individuals. This year, their young talent needs to step up due to a lack of proven athletes in sprints.
Assistant coach Ronnie Williams knows that the athletes that come into this program can continue the success the school has attained while striving to meet higher goals.
"We have a very rich and storied history, there’s a certain level of expectation that comes along with that,” Williams said. “I think we expect our athletes to compete with relentlessness because that’s what we do here at Arizona State."
The team has higher expectations for their field event athletes to be its lead scorers in dual meets.
The men's and women's teams will have a tough task ahead of them. Though Kraft wants his players to always compete at their best, he wants the team to have its big moments at the later parts of the year when the Pac-12 and national championship is on the line.
"Our goal is to go in and see where we are in our fitness and our execution," he said. "Your success is really based on your success in championship meets."
Related Links:
ASU track and field competes in inaugural Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational
Reach the reporter at osoussi@asu.edu or follow @omarksoussi on Twitter.
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