"We don't try to regroup our team to win another championship such as the ECAC," Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We use it as a last-chance performance for situations like [the athletes] trying to get onto nationals." Alford-Sullivan added that this weekend will give the seniors the opportunity to run another indoor meet.
The focus this weekend will be on Penn State's 4x400-meter relay team. Assistant coach Chris Johnson will take freshmen sprinters Dominique Blake, Gayle Hunter and Shana Cox, and sophomore sprinter Kamilah Salaam, to the Last Chance Invitational where they will attempt to achieve an automatic qualifying time in the premier event of track and field.
"They'll be participating in a few individual events," Alford-Sullivan said. "But primarily, they're going out there to run the [4x400-meter] relay."
If all goes as planned, the four should have a great chance to hit the automatic mark. Not once this season has the relay team been completely healthy when running the race. Hunter has been dealing with tendonitis in her left knee from week to week, and Cox was running with an illness earlier this season.
While the relay team will represent Penn State at Iowa State, eight to 10 more Lions will head to the ECAC meet, where Penn State will hope to add to the number of NCAA qualifiers. So far, only Hunter in the pentathlon and Jennifer Leatherman in the weight throw are locks for the national meet.
With that said, Penn State will do its utmost to move as many athletes as possible to the next level.
It is, of course, the last chance.
