Just days after the first day of spring comes the first day of the outdoor Track and Field season. 
Idaho track and field leaps into the outdoor season with the Sam Adams Classic/Combined Event meet hosted by Whitworth beginning Friday.
After a successful indoor season, Idaho Director of Track and Field/Cross-Country Tim Cawley said the team is a good position moving into the next season.
“The team is in a good place,” Cawley said. “We come off a good indoors, got a few sicknesses and things like that since then but I think the team’s coming around. This weekend we are pry going to open up half the team, some just are still hanging on or waiting to open up and then there are still a few athletes that are going to get out, get things opened up and see where we’re at. Practice has gone well, since indoor we have gotten three hard weeks of really good training to kind of just get ourselves back in. I think the team is in a good spot so I am excited for this weekend.”
The outdoor season will bring shifts in those competing, as some are battling through injuries while others are still in the fine-tuning process, Cawley said.
“This early season stuff you just never know,” Cawley said. “Some of the kids are really still working on some technical stuff or really thinking about some things and it’s almost like a glorified practice getting out there and just kind of keep working on some of the things we’re doing, you just never know if they are going to put it together or if they’re still going to be working through it.”
With the outdoor season comes outdoor field events, including the javelin toss. Cawley said there are several Idaho throwers ready to compete, including sophomore thrower Austin Buyer, freshmen multi’s Maya McFadden and Makenna Behrens.
“They’ve been chomping at the bit to throw (javelin) all year and now they get to come out and do it. I am pretty excited to see where some of the throwers are at too, they are excited for some outdoor events, it’s a little bit of a change,” Cawley said.
Among the athletes stepping out in the 2018 outdoor season include senior sprinter/jumper Arphaxad Carroll and sophomore distance runner Krista Story. Cawley said both athletes struggled with injuries during the indoor stint but look to make their mark in the spring.
“(Story) is finally starting to feel healthy again so she should be back in outdoors. After placing so well in cross country I am really excited to see what she can put together outdoors but she is coming back off some things and I think excited to see where she can go do,” Cawley said.
Carroll finished his 2016 season at the NCAA Championships, placing 16th in the long jump and named All-American Second team. The senior capped off the 2017 indoor season with a second-place finish in the long jump and sixth place in the 60-meter dash. He currently sits in the sixth all-time spot on the Idaho record board in the long jump.
“You’re bringing an All-American back out onto the table. We’re slowly progressing back, he is going to do some short approach jumps, like really short approach jumps at this meet so it will be very much like a practice for him but we will see how he opens up but he has been looking good,” Cawley said of Carroll.
Idaho travels to Whitworth for the Sam Adams Classic beginning March 22 in Spokane, Washington.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]