Don’t expect to see highly competitive track meets at the Track and Tennis Center this weekend. Instead, the Boston University men’s and women’s track teams will be cutting the ribbon on their new facility at 100 Ashford St. Friday’s women’s meet and Saturday’s men’s meet, both tune-ups, will act as a christening for the new building, which is sure to hold many memories in the future.
‘This meet is just our excuse to have some fun with the new facility,’ said BU men’s Coach Pete Schuder. ‘This is going to be an exciting year for us.’
The BU men will face Central Connecticut State University and the University of New Hampshire on Saturday at noon.
Schuder pointed out that some important meets will be held at BU this year, thanks to the new 60,000 square foot, 1,500-person capacity building which is part of the $200 million Student Village project. One of these will be the Eastern Championships, an important meet to be held at the pavilion on March 8 and 9, 2003.
Women’s Coach Lesley Lehane has many of the same feelings as Schuder, as the Terrier women will square off against Central Connecticut State University, Providence College, the University of Maine, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of New Hampshire on Friday at 4 p.m.
‘It’s a pleasure to be in there,’ she said. ‘It’s so nice and clean.’
The women’s team is optimistic with its new runners, despite losing some key athletes to graduation last year. Lehane will be keeping some of her cross country runners out of the meet to allow recovery time, but Friday afternoon will still be a good way to measure where the track and field athletes stand.
‘We don’t have our whole team competing; we are just going to focus on the track and field athletes. It’s their first test after training all fall,’ Lehane said. ‘We are hoping to win the conference again, and we should be able to do as well as last year.’
Schuder is using the same strategy, as racing this weekend would throw off the training programs of the cross-country runners as well as risking injury.
‘This is going to be a strange meet because it is nothing more than a scrimmage for us,’ Schuder said. ‘I just want the guys to have some fun and not get hurt.’ He also called the meet a ‘dress rehearsal.’
‘I think we’ll see some good performances as far as both teams go,’ said Distance Coach Bruce Lehane.
Specifically for the Terrier women, there should be a few performances to watch. Senior captains Uzo Aduba and Lauren Warman, and senior Andrea Stuermer all captured New England Championships a year ago. Aduba will be running in the 400 meter race, a change from the 55 and 200 meters that she ran last year. Warman will also be in the 400, while Stuermer continues to excel in the pole vault.
Lesley Lehane also mentioned newcomer sophomore Leticia Makin, an 800 runner from Australia.
‘Leticia is a really good athlete,’ Lehane said. ‘She is going to be fun to watch.’
The same could be said about the future of Boston University track, thanks to the new facility.
That future begins this weekend.
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