Red Fine Tunes Technique At Marc Deneault Invite

This weekend the men’s and women’s track teams will stay at home to compete in the Marc Deneault Invitational and face the final opportunity to fine tune the squad and make preparations before Heps.
“The only goal we really have is to fill the other three Heps qualifying spots,” said men’s head coach Nathan Taylor. “We’re allowed to compete with 33 players at Heps and 30 have made it so far. We just want to try to fill in the last few spots.”
The Marc Deneault Invitational is unscored and will consist of 23 teams.
“In pole vault we have four guys who are trying to qualify with similar season bests,” Taylor said. “We probably won’t be able to take all of them so there will be a lot of competition in that event.”
The men have done very well throughout the season and many of the players who have already qualified will be taking a much-deserved break this weekend. There is still a lot to do, however, as the team prepares for Heps. [img_assist|nid=28082|title=Fully extended|desc=The men’s and woman’s track teams will use this weekend’s Invite as a chance for some final fine tuning before the Heps.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
“Heps is definitely the biggest event of the year for us,” said senior Charles Riley. “We lost last year to Princeton in the indoors and we’re hoping to get it back this year. There are going to be a lot of alumni there and I’m sure we’ll impress them with a win.”
While this weekend won’t be one to go all out, it will be one to focus on very specific aspects of their approaches.
“We want to get guys to hone some specific techniques,” Taylor said. “There are still improvements to be made. We hope that all the preparation will lead us to a fantastic meet at Heps.”
The women will also be competing in the Invite.
“This is our last meet before Heps and we want to do some fine tuning before the big one,” said senior tri-captain Joan Casey. “A lot of people will be taking an easy week in order to rest up.”
Last week, the women won 16 events at the Robert J. Kane Invitational and 13 events at the Cornell Open on Feb. 9.
“The team has exceeded my expectations so far this year,” Casey said. “We have a lot of seniors this year and people really stepped it up.”
Casey highlighted both events with top-3 finishes in the 60-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump at both Invites.
The women’s team won the Upstate Challenge, finished second in the Harvard Select Meet and finished third in the Sabock Challenge.
“We need every person to be ready and bring their ‘A’ game because the other teams are all gunning for us,” Casey said.