Teams hope outdoor season will build off indoor success

Andy Dygert
News Editor
Mar. 4, 2004, Page 7

Doane’s track and field athletes have burst out of the confines of another long indoor track season and are headed for the open air.
The outdoor season is about to begin as indoor track nationals begin today. The Doane men’s and women’s teams are looking for a successful and victory-laden season.
“We set the standard at the beginning of the year,” freshman Joel Bacon said. “We decided that we would dominate this year.”
The women’s track team is coming off their fourteenth consecutive Great Plains Athletic Conference victory in indoor and they are looking to make it complete by winning in outdoor as well.
They are also prepared to give a shot at winning a third national championship in four years. The women won back to back national championships in 2001 – 2002 and finished second last year.
“In the past there were one or two teams that were really able to win the championship,” Head Coach Ed Fye said. “This year there’s about six that should get a lot of points, but we’ve got a chance as we should be scoring a lot of points as well.”
The men are also hungry for a win in conference after losing to Nebraska Wesleyan University by 14 points in the indoor GPAC meet.
“You can bet your ass that Wesleyan will be going down in conference this time,” Bacon said.
The outdoor season meets begin March 26. The GPAC Championship will be held May 1 at Doane’s Lauritsen Track.
The outdoor national championships will be held on May 27-29 at Lousville, Ky.
“We’ve got a good looking team going into the outdoor season,” Fye said. “We’ve got national champions and great new athletes. We can chip away with everyone and I think we have the opportunity to compete strongly.”