Outdoor track season is here, and the novice University of Illinois Springfield women’s team has stepped up its training big-time.
“I trained them as a good high school team in cross country season,” UIS coach Mike De Witt said. “During indoor track, I set the workouts up more like good high school kids . . . state meet quality. This outdoor season we’re training like college freshmen.”
The UIS women’s team is coming off a seven-meet indoor track season that culminated with the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships late last month in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The highlight was the Prairie Stars’ Krissy Finley finishing ninth in the 800 meters.
“In cross country, we weren’t competitive," De Witt said. "Krissy just missed scoring in the 800. She just missed scoring a point, which would have been neat. In the 4x400, we were really competitive and everybody ran PRs.”
The Stars will not have Finley or Riverton’s Lexi Yoggerst for the outdoor season. They are redshirting in order to save a year of eligibility. Instead, they will run as unattached individuals in meets where UIS is not competing. Finley, a Rochester High School graduate, was UIS top female cross country runner last fall.
The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on March 27, 2016.
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