With a solid effort at the St. Scholastica meet, the NMU women’s indoor track and field team continues its efforts as it prepares for the Lake Superior State University Open Tournament and the NMU Northern Challenge this upcoming weekend.

Head coach Tom Barnes expressed the admiration and confidence he has in his team going into both of these meets, but said he is mainly focused on the only home meet the team has this entire season.

“The LSSU open is a good meet to attend and will be quite enjoyable, but the NMU Northern Challenge is going to be huge for us,” Barnes said. “We do travel a lot during the year, and when it’s your only home meet, this is the time you want to build as much momentum as you can and show everyone what you’re made of. With this team, we have a lot to be proud of.”

Having back-to-back meets does not leave a lot of down-time for the track and field team, but Barnes said the team is prepared and trains for these types of back-to-back meets, stating that it’s part of track and field.

“This is all just a part of the track and field scene,” Barnes said. “We have had a month off to train and practice, and we have been very anxious to get these meets underway. As long as we remember to execute our technique properly, excel in our strengths and improve where we need to, we will go far this year.”

The ’Cats will travel to Sault Ste. Marie on Jan. 21 for the LSSU Open Tournament at 4 p.m., where they will be participating in several events going up against Lake State and Northwood. Each team will have one representative per event.

The ’Cats will then be returning to Marquette to host the NMU Northern Challenge in the Superior Dome on Jan. 22 at 11 a.m. The NMU Northern Challenge will consist of more than 10 events against Lake State, Northwood, St. Norbert and Michigan Tech. Each team will have anywhere from two to three representatives per event.