Team set for final tune-up before championships

The Miners will travel to College Station to compete in their final meet before the Conference-USA Indoor Championships in hope of staying sharp and not overlooking the event Feb. 11 at Texas A&M.

Head coach Mika Laaksonen is hoping the team stays focused but is aware that athletes may look past the event and have the C-USA championships, which is Feb. 25-26 in Birmingham, Alabama, in mind.

"From the past, usually it's hard not to overlook the meet before the conference. We usually have a little bit of a let down on this meet," Laaksonen said. "It happens almost every year. I don't expect any great results. I see some people already getting focused or mentally ready for the conference."

The Miners can benefit from a good performance at College Station as it can help seeding for the conference championships. But the main goal of this meet is to keep everyone ready up for the C-USA championships.

"We're trying to keep everybody healthy and make small advancements here and there and get everybody ready. That's the number one goal for this meet," Laaksonen said. "I'm hoping we make a little more progress in the field events and it will be easier going into conference."

Athletes are aware that the conference championships will be coming up soon, such as junior sprinter Anthony Wright who admits that it simply comes down to preparation.

"Honestly I don't think much about it because if you're prepared, you're prepared. If you're not, you're not. I hope I do well, of course. I hope for the best," Wright said. "I've just been doing what I've done all along: don't change your working formula, just going to the trainers more often to avoid any injuries."

Wright is coming off a performance Feb. 3-4 at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska that gave him the 10th-best 60-meter dash finish in school history clocking in at 6.78 seconds. The time currently has him fourth in C-USA.

Wright also mentioned that everyone is aware that it is a big meet and national times are a factor this week, but the most important meet is the C-USA championships.

"If worst comes to worst, the meet in a sense doesn't mean anything because conference is more important so it's just a way to get you prepared," Wright said. "If you don't do as well, you still have conference. If you do well, that's just a confidence booster for conference."

All-American senior sprinter Endurance Abinuwa leads the women into the meet as C-USA's top sprinter and currently ranks 35th in the nation in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.45.

Others to keep an eye on are senior thrower Matt Dudley and sophomore sprinter Janice Jackson.

Host Texas A&M, Albama, Baylor, Missouri, TCU, USC and C-USA foes Houston and Rice will be at the invitational. Sprinters coach Scott Roberts believes this array of competition, especially the C-USA teams, can help UTEP get a good look at themselves in the conference championships.

"What's nice about this meet is we're going to have some really good competition. It will certainly prepare us for the conference meet," Roberts said. "We can use this good competition that we're going to see at Texas A&M to help us improve our seeding for the conference meet."

Despite possibly overlooking the meet at Texas A&M, coaches still hope all athletes can use the meet to remain focused.

"We're trying to sharpen ourselves and put our best foot forward leading into that conference meet," Roberts said.

Daniel Ornelas may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.