Feb. 26, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The men's and women's track & field teams will compete at their respective conference championships this weekend, with Penn State playing host to the Big Ten Women's Indoor Championships while the men's team will travel to Minnesota for the Big Ten Men's Indoor Championships. Both will be held on Saturday, Feb. 27 and Sunday, Feb. 28.
Men's Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships Information-
Hosted by the University of Minnesota (SOLD OUT)
Women's Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships Information-
Hosted by Penn State University (TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE)
Penn State Director of Track & Field Beth Alford-Sullivan, junior distance runner Ryan Foster and senior distance runner Bridget Franek meet with the media prior to the Big Ten Championships. Here's what the trio had to say:
Beth Alford-Sullivan |
Head Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan
Q: Are you excited to host Big Ten indoors?
A: First of all, both programs are in a great position for both Big Ten Championships, so I'm very excited about both of our opportunities. To host is always a special time. We had the men here last year, and had such a tremendous showing of support and fans and just a great atmosphere for Penn State and Penn State track & field. I think we're going to be able to match that with the women and we've got a great group of young ladies that are ready to represent at home. It's going to be outstanding. I think our facility is one of the best in the nation, maybe the best in the world. We can really produce a great track meet. You bring in your conference competitors, you bring in a loaded field, and you put them up against each other in that facility and I think you're going to see some outstanding performances from not only ourselves but other teams as well. In addition, we've worked hard to have our alumni come back. We've got a really good group of young ladies and I've been here long enough that there's 10 years worth of Penn Staters that I've directly had impact with. We're bringing people back from all different eras and it's going to be exciting to get those people back in the house and see our team and get after it as well.
Q: What are you looking to do this year with splitting coaching staffs?
A: We're really hoping this is going to be the last year of this challenge. It's a very, very frustrating challenge for our program, for our coaches especially and any of the other conference members that are combined. We've made a decision. Myself, coach (Chris) Johnson and coach (Fritz) Spence will stay here. Coach (John) Gondak, coach (T.J.) Crater and coach (Drew) Hardyk will be traveling with the guy's program. As the director of the program, it tears me apart to have to pick but since we're hosting that has been an easy decision to just stay with the host team. On that same note, I would love it if the media ever wanted to pick up on the topic of our separate, yet combined championship because it really needs the attention to recognize the student welfare issues that are involved with splitting our staffs. We're sending athletes to Minnesota without coaches and we're having athletes competing at home without their coaches. It's really a student welfare issue for us to have to continue to move down this path and it affects over half of our conference schools. The conference needs to step up and make the change.
Q: Could you see Penn State hosting an NCAA championship event someday?
A: We'd love to. The NCAA, it's been an interesting run. Ten of the past 11 years have been at Arkansas. It was a simple solution for our sport. It was the middle of the country, easy access for people. They've had a tremendous facility down there. It was kind of one those things where we just kept going back, kept going back. The last few years they've started to switch it around and look to go to some other venues and some people being interested in hosting. We haven't quite made the cut to host it here just simply off of seating problems that we have. We just don't have enough seats for the fans. We're looking, trying to be creative in some ways we could address that, but right now it seems a little bit difficult. The fan base is a pretty good size fan base that would be coming into the NCAAs. Never to say never, we will certainly continue to take a look at the opportunities down the road and see if there's some creative ways we can put more seats in and things like that. We have one of the best tracks in the country and people enjoy coming here. I think the layout of our facility, the fact that our warm-ups are on our turf and things are easy access, so to speak, would provide a tremendous element to the competition. Some of the technical stuff we've got to work out, though.
Q: How is the combination of the programs progressing?
A: I think it's been going extremely well. We've had a tremendous run at it for just three and a half years of being a combined program. I feel like we've made a strong statement very rapidly. On the women's side, we're in a good position for this conference championship. It's going to be an exciting one on the women's side. We came up four points short last year - that stings like no tomorrow. We won the outdoor and we came back and won the cross country on the home turf. We're hosting and we want to take this one. We want to give our fans something to see us in action and really put it to everybody. I think it's a year where we're in a good position to do that. It's been a long run with the women. I think seven or eight straight years we've been in the hunt. We've been first, second, third, fourth, right in the upper echelon in the indoor and outdoor championships. This team is seasoned, they're prepared and they're excited. We've got a good variety across the board with some young freshmen who are going to make a big dent all the way to some very experience-laden seniors. I think the women are great. The guys, they've come on very, very quick. I think currently, right now, our national rankings kind of say a lot of what we've done with the program. The women are 10th. Our annual goal year in and year out is to be a top 10 team at the national championships. Women have been ranked in the top 10 all season long. Guys have stepped up their game and they're currently ranked 11th in the country. They're in a position to where they're a top echelon team in the conference. Are they going to necessarily be 100 percent prepared to pull off a win? They're close. They're gaining that ground. They're putting themselves in a position to be those kind of contenders and gaining that experience. By Ryan (Foster's) senior year, by some of these younger kids senior years, we're going to be able to see that happen. Collectively as a program, yeah, we've come a long way. We're really hungry, really after it. I think we've done a good job of having the two entities, the two teams, be focused on their goals and their directives but collectively carrying the championship atmosphere across the board and pushing each other and keeping each other hungry and excited about what will be.
Q: What do you have to say about the outdoor season coming up?
A: Outdoor is going to be here before we know it. We will finish up the indoor with the national championships in the middle of March, with both of these guys and many of their teammates competing. Then, we actually have a weekend off. Then we open up with a low-key meet here at the end of March. Before we know it, we'll be in the thick of things with the wind and rain and all of that outdoors and training through it. We've got a tremendous outdoor schedule set up. We have the Florida relays in early April. We head to Arizona State again in the middle of April. Of course, we cap off the month of April with the Penn Relays. We'll also have two very strong conference teams in the outdoor season. We add events that we're good in. We add a couple more throwing events, we add a couple more hurdle events, we add a couple more distance events. We're going to be strong across the board for both of those teams and that competition in the middle of May will be at the University of Indiana. We're thoroughly excited for what's coming up, but I think we're pretty focused now on what the task at hand is.
Junior, Distance, Ryan Foster
Q: How hard is the transition from outdoors to indoors?
A: I don't think it's a particularly hard one. I think most people have run outdoor track their whole life. Indoors is maybe a little more difficult with just the technical aspects of getting around the track. I certainly didn't find it personally difficult last year. I guess maybe going from a race being four laps down to two laps, it's a little mental. You've got to reconfigure the way you attack the race but I don't think it's an issue.
Q: Being the defending 800m indoor and outdoor champion of the Big Ten, what do you feel like your chances are?
A: I feel pretty confident within myself. I guess our goal being a conference meet is, for me, it's not personally to go in and win the race, but it is to only finish behind Penn State athletes. So, if I'm not going to win that means Owen (Dawson) has to win. That puts a little bit of pressure on him. He is ranked second in the conference, as well, so he should be the biggest challenger to me. We'll be both looking forward to pushing each other in that event and I think the same goes for everyone else. The goal should always be to only finish behind other Penn State athletes.
Q: What is the depth of the Big Ten field heading into the championships?
A: The men's is quite deep. A lot of teams have really stepped up this year. Just from what I've seen, Indiana has had a lot of their middle distance and distance guys running very well. Minnesota, I think being on their home track, the defending champion. They're going to be very strong through the field, sprints, and in fact their pretty strong across the board. I think they're going as favorites on their home track. We're looking to not take any steps backwards. We were third last year so I think we're aiming to be at least third this year. Second would be an amazing result and first is something that is in the back of our mind but we're not going to take that as a failure if we don't get it because it is a very, very deep competition.
Q: How is the Big Ten conference different as far as intensity compared to other competition you have faced this season?
A: It's a real change of emphasis from what we've been doing for the majority of the season. Most people, they go out and the first thing in their mind is hitting a certain time, qualifying for NCAAs and trying to extend your season. When conference comes around, it really doesn't matter if you run 1:45 or 2:00 flat to win the race. It's about where you finish as a team. Also, when we travel we don't travel the whole team, but with Big Tens we compete a full roster, which means every single person has to perform. It's one of those days where you can't have anyone not hit their event to perfection. If we're going to be competitive and be in the hunt for this, we need every single person to step up on that one given day. I think that is the big difference between the Big Tens and any other meet. At NCAAs it might only be five or six athletes competing for the weekend, but for Big Tens we're having 30-plus athletes all competing on the one weekend and we need everybody to get it right on the one day. I think that is the biggest difference.
Senior, Distance, Bridget Franek
Q: Are you looking forward to the Big Ten Championships being hosted at home?
A: I am. We heard so many stories about the boys when they hosted last year and it just sounded like so much fun. The past home meets that we've had here this season already have been a lot of fun. The Big Ten meet is definitely one that we look forward to every season.
Q: What is it like to have two of the three major Big Ten Championship meets at home for your senior year?
A: That's a great chance and opportunity, and a great way to send me off, I guess, and my senior class. We're really thankful for that and it definitely brings a lot to have the support and hometown crowd there cheering you on. That helps so much and it will be fun.
Q: What does the women's competition look like in the Big Ten for the championships?
A: On the women's side, some of our previous challengers are shifting a little bit. I think Indiana is one of our top competitors. Michigan and Minnesota have not done as well as they have in the past few years. It's still going to be tough. The Big Ten is always a tough conference for track and field.
Q: How is the Big Ten conference different as far as intensity compared to other competition you have faced this season?
A: To start off, aside from Sykes-Sabock, this is our first team-scored meet. That definitely adds an element of not just putting people in the events that they're specifically good at as much as putting people in events that they can score points for the team in. That's fun and challenging at the same time and definitely different than other events just because a lot of people are put in situations where it comes down to heart and grit and basically the elements that make this sport such a cool sport. I think that a lot of that comes out in the Big Ten meet.
--NITTANY LIONS--