Marquette Track & Field Announces 2008-09 Schedule
9/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Sept. 24, 2008
2008-09 MU Track & Field Schedule 
MILWAUKEE -- Marquette track and field head coach Bert Rogers has announced the track and field schedule for the 2008-09 season.
Marquette will host two meets during the outdoor season, the MU vs UWM Dual on Friday, April 10 and the Marquette Twilight meet on Saturday, April 25. Last season the Marquette Twilight was the first meet held at the Melvin "Bus" Shimek Memorial Track & Field Facility in six years.
"Any time you can host events at your home facility it is exciting," said Rogers. "We are looking forward to having two events at home and getting our athletes qualified for the BIG EAST Championships."
The indoor season will kick-off on Friday, Dec. 5 at the Blue and Gold Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind. Following a long break, the track and field squad will return to action Jan. 8-9 at the Grand Valley Early Bird in Grand Rapids, Mich. A trip west on I-94 will ensue when the Golden Eagles head to Madison, Wis. for the Badger Track Classic on Jan. 17. The BIG EAST Indoor Championships will be held, Feb. 21-22 in New York.
Over the course of the indoor season, Marquette will make a total of four trips to Notre Dame for meets, with the Alex Wilson Invitational as the last meet before the NCAA Indoor Championships, March 13-14 in College Station, Texas.
The Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Ariz., will mark the start of the outdoor season on March 20-21. Marquette will spend the next two meets south of the Mason-Dixon Line at the UTEP Springtime Invitational on March 28 and the Duke Invitational on April 3-4, before returning to Milwaukee for the UWM vs MU Dual meet on April 10.
"The dual meet with UWM is going to be exciting," Rogers said. "Track and field has kind of gotten away from dual competition in favor of bigger meets and now there is a movement to return to the dual meets."
The weekend after the Marquette Twilight, held April 25, MU will head to Philadelphia for the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships. Following the BIG EAST Championships, Marquette will compete in another three meets as they attempt to qualify for the NCAA Mideast Regional, which will be held May 29-30 in Louisville, Ky.
"The schedule is set up so that certain meets are big, while others are more low key," said Rogers. "We tried to get a rythmn to the schedule throughout the season so that we can have a big meet followed by a less intense meet. I am very excited about the schedule and how it will prepare us for the BIG EAST meets."