Weather cools off MU

By Jenny Overell

March 28, 2006

Although Marquette earned two first-place finishes at the Saluki Spring Classic, the men's and women's outdoor track and field team's performance overall was just average.

The women's team finished seventh of 12 teams with a total of 40.33 points. On the men's side, Marquette earned sixth of 11 teams with a total of 54.50 points.

"We didn't score as well as we would have liked," said head coach Dave Uhrich.

Saturday's meet was held in Carbondale, Ill., and many factors affected the outcome of the meet. From weather conditions to health issues, Marquette athletes struggled to overcome a variety of obstacles.

"It was cooler than everyone expected, and that put a little bit of a damper on the meet," Uhrich said. "The temperature was in the mid-40s. Athletes still responded well and competed well, though."

Junior Heidi Lindeman secured victory in the 5,000-meter run and earned Marquette 10 points with a time of 17:39.66.

On the men's side, senior Brent Des Roches won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:38.22. Sophomore Kyle Saginus finished close behind, earning third place with a time of 14:58.27.

"It was kind of a tune-up race," Des Roches said. "My main goal for this past weekend was to get (Saginus) a faster time in the 5K. I was just pacing him and trying to talk him through the race and to go faster. It was a good effort and showed me what I might be capable of in the 10K."

Uhrich just hopes that the meet will serve as a stepping stone for the future.

"We could have scored higher if we had been more focused," Uhrich said. "But right now we are more concerned with keeping people healthy. Especially when it is early in the season and the weather is bad, we want to focus on health.

"It was just to kind of get our feet wet again with the outdoor season and get back into competing," Uhrich added. "We had about month off since the indoor season, and so we wanted to get back into the swing of things and get back into outdoor events."

Although the men's and women's track teams are behind where they wanted to be, Uhrich holds a positive outlook for the future and hopes that Marquette will progress along with the weather.

"Our goals are always to focus on conference championships and just improve every week and get ready for Big East championships," Uhrich said.