The Irish will travel to four different sites this weekend to compete in various events leading up to Easter. Different parts of the team will head to Arizona, Auburn, Florida and Purdue as the outdoor season continues for the Irish.
The Arizona Multi-Event will be held Thursday and Friday while the Florida Relays, Auburn Tiger Track Classic and Purdue's Mike Poehlein Invitational will take place Friday and Saturday.
"A big part of being successful will be for everyone to ignore the meet atmosphere and just perform like they do in practice," sophomore thrower Mike Smigelski said. "If we simply focus on our coaches' advice and stay relaxed, we will do really well as a team."
The events will mark the second weekend of competition in the outdoor season. The Irish competed at the Arizona State Invitational and Stanford Invitational last Friday and Saturday.
Three Irish athletes finished first in their events over the weekend. At the Arizona State Invitational, senior Joanna Schultz topped the list in the 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Kevin Schipper recorded the best height in the pole vault and sophomore Jack Howard won the men's 800 race.
After the events, the team will have Easter Sunday off before getting back to action Monday.
"This is a time to have a good Holy Week but we have to stay focused on track," junior pole vaulter Andrew Kolbeck said. "Having time off from classes really helps with this."
The matches mark the beginning of the final month leading up to the Big East outdoor championships, which will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"The Big East meet really comes up quickly in the outdoor season," Kolbeck said. "We have to make sure everyone's focused and ready to compete every opportunity we have, starting with this weekend so we can get everyone qualified especially in some of the new events that are added outdoor."
