Northern Michigan’s Indoor Track and Field team is getting ready to lace up their spikes as they prepare to face Michigan Tech and Lake Superior State in their upcoming meet. The Northern Challenge will take place in the Superior Dome this Saturday, Jan. 20. Field Events will be held at 12:30 p.m., and Running Events will be held at 1:30 p.m.

“I’m really excited for the community to come out and actually see what we can do and what we’ve been working toward, and I think it’s going to be exciting,” said senior thrower Samanthia Johnson. “The team has been training hard, […] and we have a really good group, so I’m really excited to see what everybody will do.”

Having a home meet is not only a great way for the community to see what the team has been training for, but head coach Jenny Ryan also said that having a smaller meet at home is a great way to get back into the competition to see where the team is at and what they need to work on. This is especially important because of how short the indoor track season is with conference championships taking place at the end of February, Ryan added. They will be competing every weekend for the next five weeks as they prepare for the championships, she said.

With cross country runners returning from their post-season recovery break, this will be the first track meet where Northern will compete as a full team of about 35 athletes.

“I think we’re going to do really well as a team. Last meet we didn’t have everyone […] so once we come back, all together, I feel like we’re going to be a way stronger team,” sophomore runner Annicka
Mcdonald said.