Central Michigan University Athletics
Penn Relays Among Weekend Destinations
4/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Brent Schriber, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.-- As the track and field season nears its cresendo, this will be the last competitive weekend for many of the Chippewa student-athletes.
"For a lot of the kids, this will be their last meet," said Mark Guthrie, CMU's director of track & field. "If they don't make the conference team, this will be their last race."
The Chippewas will split the squad as they have done in recent weeks with some athletes heading to the prestigious Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania, others are scheduled to partake in the RedHawk Invitational at Miami (Ohio), while the CMU throwers will compete in the Ashland (Ohio) Alumni Meet.
Next week, some Chippewas will compete in another high-prodile event, the Jesse Owens Invitational in Columbus, Ohio.
"The Jesse Owens meet is a major college meet, and not everybody's going to get in," Guthrie said. "So it'll be a pretty elite group that we take there, but it'll be a great meet with great competition."
The Penn Relays get under way on Thursday and continue through Saturday. The Chippewas will be running for glory, as the Penn Relays are the oldest track & field competition in the United States.
Abbey Kelto will continue her quest to earn the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Championships as she will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Penn Relays. Her best time in the 10,000 meters, 34 minutes, 6.81 seconds, ranks 33rd nationally. A quality time in the steeplechase at the Penn Relays would help her cause immensely, Guthrie said.
"The primary job for Abbey this weekend is to qualify for the (NCAA) first round in the steeplechase," he said. "We are already there in the 10,000 meter. We have a good conference (qualifying) mark in the 5,000 meter.
"So we are going to attack the steeple, and then after this weekend we will kind of know what the plan is going to be with her for the conference meet and (NCAA) first rounds and hopefully the national championships.
"She thrives off that ability to go out and run. So she's been great for our program. She is someone you want as the face as your program, because she does it all the right way."
The Chippewa throwers will compete at Ashland on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, the remainder of the athletes will head to Miami for the RedHawk Invitational.
The Chippewas are coming off an outstanding showing -- both the men and women claimed second place in their respective team standings -- at the Indiana State Gibson Invitational. CMU tallied 11 first-place finishes in the event.
"As exciting as Friday and Saturday was, if we're going to continue to grow this program and become better, that's got to be a normal day," Guthrie said. "That has to be just what the expectation is."
Players Mentioned
