The Florida A&M men’s and women’s track and field team is preparing to begin their outdoor season at the 59th Annual FAMU Relays on March 13 at the Pete Griffin Track Complex.
The FAMU Relays is an open high school and collegiate level event for schools across the region in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The event starts at 9:30 a.m. beginning with the men and women’s javelin throw and ending with the men’s 500-meter run.
Coach Rey Robinson is looking forward to the event but with a weakened squad he has lower expectations.
“Most of my sprinters are hurt, but I think we can boost our place in the high hurdles,” Coach Robinson said. “Carl McKenzie is one the strongest sprinters and hurdlers at the time, his events are the 110 meter hurdles and the 100 meter sprint.
The 100-meter dash preliminaries are on March 13 as well and are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. for men and women runners. Coach Robinson said that he believes his strongest events are the 4x 100 and 4x 400 relay.
Damarious Carroll is another Rattler hurdler who will not be running in the event. He has a severely sprained ankle, which he sustained in the indoor championship.
“I have been hurdling ever since I was a freshman in high school, and it’s pretty bad that I’ll miss the relays,” Carroll said.
He believes that through hard training and work ethic, he will be a stronger runner than before.
The Rattlers placed 10th in the indoor championship, those results didn’t sit will with Coach Robinson who blames most of the teams hardships on preparation.
“We were not prepared, and what made it worse was that our sprinters were hurt,” said Robinson.
March 14th will consist of two sessions: High school preliminaries and a combined finals competition between both high schools and colleges.
There is no admission fee for the event so students, faculty and Tallahassee residents are urged to come out and show support.