Director of track and field Walt Drenth said he’s enthused about the MSU track team’s prospects at the Spartan Invitational on Saturday.
Drenth has good reason to be enthused — the team is coming into the invitational fresh from wins at the Colonial Relays last weekend, where the women’s and men’s team took first and second place, respectively.
“That was a great way to get started with the whole team,” Drenth said. “I felt like we competed well and I’m looking forward to the Spartan Invitational just for us to continue to try and build some momentum.
“We’ve got a long way to go with that kind of a meet, but as a team you start to see a little bit of progress. We went last year and there was no way we could have had a chance to win, so we’ve come a long way in a year and I think it’s becoming evident through the team that we’re making progress.”
MSU will play host to 17 area schools during the Spartan Invitational, including Notre Dame and Michigan.
Senior sprinter Paris Mandy took third place in the 100-meter dash during the Colonial Relays and said she hopes the team’s success from last weekend carries into the Spartan Invitational.
“I think the team is on a continuing improvement streak, so we’re going to take what we did from the last meet and just improve on it,” Mandy said. “I think everybody is really excited just to see how far we can go and show everybody what we’ve been doing for the past few weeks because each meet has gotten a lot better.”
The team has had its issues this season, with a lackluster performance at the Big Ten Indoor Championships in early March. The men’s team took tenth place, while the women’s team placed eighth with 35 points.
The youth of the team is still one of the team’s major issues, as Drenth said that its biggest obstacle is simply “to get better.” Senior sprinter Jeremy Orr agrees with Drenth’s evaluation of the team, but said he thinks the Spartans’ younger members are a key part in the team’s current success.
“We’ve definitely matured over the season, throughout the past couple years actually,” Orr said.
“Since I’ve been here, and just this season, we’ve just matured a whole lot as a team and a lot of people have matured individually. Some of the underclassmen that have been around for a couple of years have really shown up and really stepped up now and I think that’s definitely what’s making the difference now.”
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