Track and field teams look to improve upon national top 10 finishes

The 2012 indoor and outdoor track and field teams look to improve on their national top 10 finishes from the previous season when they open the indoor season on Jan. 13-14 at Texas Tech University.

Butler will also be featuring a new assistant coach this year, as James White II has joined the program. He has considerable knowledge in the sport, serving as head coach at Highland, Garden City and Colby before coming to Butler to work under head coach Jeff Becker.

"I'm very excited about the start of this track season," head coach Jeff Becker said. "I'm excited to have new assistant coach James White on board. I think he will help us reach our goals for the program."

The ladies will look to returning NJCAA All-Americans Martha Avila (Wichita, KS) and Juliette Gourdet (Fort Myers, FL) to lead the team in the middle distance events. Newcomers Remona Burchell (Westmoreland, Jamaica) and Fiona Masai (Eldoret, Kenya) will look to make immediate impact in the sprints and distance events, respectively.

The men will look to the middle distance events for their success as returning All-Americans Kelvin Busienei (Peoria, AZ), Jameson Fay (Towanda, KS), Devery Robley (Arouca, Trinidad and Tobago) and Cesar Sanabria (Glendale, AZ) will be strong contenders in these events as well as the distance events. 

There will be seven meets during the indoor season, including the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence on Jan. 27 and a second meet at Highland on Frb. 11. The Region VI meet will be held at Ahearn Fieldhouse in Manhattan on Feb. 18-19 with nationals to follow two weeks later at Eastern Illinois University.

The outdoor season will include 12 meets, beginning with the Alex Francis Relays at Fort Hays State University on March 23-24. Some of the biggest meets on the schedule include the Texas Relays, KU Relays in Lawrence and Arkansas Twilight Relays. The Grizzlies will also compete at the KT Woodman Meet at Wichita State's Cessna Stadium on April 13-14.

The Region VI meet will be May 3-5 at Hutchinson with the nationals in Levelland, Texas on May 17-19.