NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Split squad action lies ahead for the Belmont Men's track and field teams for the second week of the season this weekend. Most of the Bruins will take a trip up to Murray, Ky., for the Margaret Simmons Invitational, with a select few distance runners heading to Raleigh, N.C., for the esteemed Raleigh Relays.
The Raleigh Relays will start Thursday and continue through Saturday. Senior Ben Weisel (Nashville, Tenn.) will be competing in the 1,500m on Thursday. Classmate Ben Naeger (Ste. Genevieve, Mo.) will in the 10,000-meter race on Friday.
"This is typically a very competitive meet, so I'm excited to see how we match up against some other big schools," said assistant coach Kate Buckman.
The pair will vie against student athletes from Appalachian State, Ashland, Boston College, Butler, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Charlotte, Clemson, Concord, Davidson, Duke, Eastern Michigan, East Tennessee State, Furman, George Mason, George Washington, Georgia, Georgetown, Grand Valley State, Howard, Iona, LaSalle, Lee (Tenn.), Loyola (Ill.), Miami (Ohio), Missouri, Mount St. Mary's, NC State, North Carolina, Northeastern, Notre Dame, Ohio, Providence, Queens (N.C.), Richmond, South Dakota, Stony Brook, Syracuse, UMass Lowell, Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington, Washington State, Wingate and Youngstown State as well as familiar foes in Eastern Kentucky, Lipscomb and Tennessee.
Bucknam is excited to see what Naeger and Weisel can do to represent the Bruins in Raleigh. "I think it's important to keep in mind that this is the first race back on the track for them in over a year."
"The number one goal is to take advantage of the great competition and run fast," Bucknam said. "Definitely a great opportunity to see where we are at currently and get back into the racing mindset to set them up well for the rest of the season."
On Saturday, BU will have the opportunity to dust off its spikes for the first time in over a year's time, taking a large contingency of student athletes to Kentucky for the Margaret Simmons Invitational, hosted by Murray State.
"The Murray State meet will simply be a rust buster for us," said assistant coach Joe Frye.
The Bruins will see competition from OVC schools Austin Peay, Jacksonville State, Murray State, Tennessee State and UT Martin and other student athletes from Bellarmine, Berea, Brescia, Campbellsville, Carlow, Centre, Freed-Hardeman, Illinois-Chicago, Indiana Tech, Kentucky Wesleyan, Lindsey Wilson, Olivet Nazarene, Purdue Fort Wayne, Southern Indiana, St. Mary of the Woods, and Quincy.
"I'm excited to get the season started for our athletes this weekend," said Frye. "We've been training for a long time in some pretty unconventional situations, so I know the athletes are anxious to put their hard work to the test and see where they're at."
Both meets will have live results available.
