Track team continues to build up strength
Business as usual.
That's the message USC track and field coach Curtis Frye is sending his team as it prepares for its first home meet of the season this afternoon.
With the Texas A&M Challenge, host of this year's Big 12-SEC interconference competition looming next week, the Gamecocks are using today's meet as a mid-week tune up before they head to College Station and begin to gear up towards championship competition.
"At this point in the season, we've got to build on everything," Frye said. "You're not in the championship point of the season. Basically, you're training at this time. We'll start tapering off [with training] so we can run fast."
This will be one of the smallest meets the Gamecocks participate in this season, and the competition will not be as stiff as the larger meets. However, Frye is expecting no drop-off in performance. USC can't afford it, especially because of the relative youth of the teams. On the men's side, USC has just six seniors on this year's roster. The women's side is also young, featuring only ten seniors.
To offset the inexperience, Frye is relying on his experienced athletes to set an example.
"People like [senior sprinter] Lakya Brookins have been through this before," Frye said. "She'll respond like she normally does. She'll race tough. [Senior sprinters] Antonio Sales and Aaron Anderson — they'll run tough. Maybe they'll set an example for the kids such as [freshman Sanura Eley-] O'Reilly."
By the look of things though, O'Reilly has already had good examples set for her. The Fayetteville, N.C., native was named SEC Female Freshman of the Week on Tuesday after winning the 400m dash and helping the 1600m relay team grab second place at the Hokie Invitational. Besides O'Reilly, Frye is hoping to see good things out of all the younger competitors because of the mentoring force of his veterans.
"We're hoping they'll all come through because of our senior leadership," Frye said. "Sales, Anderson, Brookins, [senior sprinter] Shayla Mahan — the older All-American athletes have to be the ones [to lead]."
Frye is intrigued to see how his youngsters handle the rigors of a Division-1 season.
"Track is an individual sport. Everyone of them is going to respond differently, so it is hard to predict and hard to expect," Frye said. "You can't stay peaked but so long. We're going to build on sprints and relay. Our field events have got to taper a little bit. We're just in the training portion of our season."