The Marshall University track and field team heads to Cullowhee, North Carolina Friday to compete in the Catamount Classic.

The event will span Friday and Saturday as an all-day event on both days.

The team will look to build on a successful meet at the Hilltopper Relays last weekend. In the meet, senior Asia Bange won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.78 seconds.

Marshall also got a solid performance from senior Alexandra Phares, who finished with a third place finish in the 3000-meter run and ninth a place finish in the 1500-meter run.

Bange said the team’s confidence heading into the Catamount Classic could amount to results similar to last week’s performances.

“I think the sprinters feel real confident after the finishes last week,” Bange said.

Phares reiterated Bange’s words concerning the team’s confidence, but she said it is not necessarily performance based and instead is due to the team’s preparation.

“Our training is doing what we want it to do,” Phares said.  “It is good motivation to keep pushing forward.”

Bange said an added benefit of Friday’s meet will be the toastier temperatures in comparison to the Hiltopper relays.

“Everybody is ready to get in some warm weather and run,” Bange said.

However, Phares said while the team is intent on enjoying in the sunshine and the meet overall, there is still a business component to deal with as well.

“We need to race like we have been training,” Phares said. “Distance has been training hard, and we have been gearing up for conference, so we are excited to continue to put in the work and get some fast times in.”

Bange said the team optimally wants to find the sweet spot between training hard and enjoying the day-to-day process as the season winds down.

“I think we need to go out there and train hard and then just enjoy it,” Bange said. “We just need to find our comfort zone and find happiness in it.”

Christian Hisman can be contacted at [email protected].