TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's and women's track & field teams will be kicking off the outdoor season this weekend at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon at the Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker Meet. The meet is a two day event, consisting of just the 10,000-meter run on Friday and the rest of the events on Saturday. This meet comes a week after a number of Lute student-athletes got the chance to compete indoor at the SPU Final Qualifier at the University of Washington's Dempsey Indoor Facility.
Among those participating was junior
Andraya Conger. Conger got the opportunity to compete in the 60-meter dash at the indoor meet.,
"I'm really glad I got the opportunity to compete at the indoor meet last weekend," said Conger. "The competitive atmosphere at the meet really got me excited for the outdoor season to get started. I can't wait to hit the track and see what the women's team can do this spring!"
Conger will be doing just that is weekend, competing in the 100-meters and 200-meters. She hopes to improve on her times from last year and fix some of the mistakes she made during indoor.
Aside from racing down the track at high speeds, Conger is busy with a load of other activities.
"Outside of running, I keep myself fairly busy by staying involved in Lutes Lead, SAAC, and being the Event Manager for PLU's Love Your Melon Club on campus. I also love game nights with my housemates and watching Hercules or The Greatest Showman on repeat!"
Conger also hopes to land a future somewhere as an event manager after graduating from college next spring.
Another Lute who got the chance to run last weekend was junior
Christopher Nussbaum. Nussbaum ran the indoor 3,000-meters, posting a personal best time of eight minutes, 49 seconds.
"Considering that I was coming off of a pretty intense training week, I feel like the race went well," said Nussbaum. "It's given me an idea for what a competitive atmosphere is like which was lacking when running in the off season and building a solid aerobic base."
Nussbaum will also be taking to the track this weekend, competing in the 10,000-meter run on Friday. Nussbaum is excited for the opportunity to run his first 10K.
"Honestly, my goal is to get a feel for what a 10,000-meter race feels like especially since I have never ran one on the track before. The objective for the race is to run relaxed, and concentrate on the things that I can control like my breathing, my form, and how I react and respond to other people's moves throughout the race."
Track & field has kept the intended communication major pretty busy, causing him to forgo other extracurricular activities.
"I'm primarily focusing on school, and finding internships for the summer so currently I am not involved in any extracurricular activities other than track and field."
The Linfield Icebreaker will begin Friday at 7 p.m. with the women's 10,000 meter run, and will continue into Saturday with events kicking off at 9 a.m.
