Chippewas set to run in Florida this weekend
While the rest of the track and field team will be in East Lansing the distance runners will be heading to Gainesville, Fla. April 5-6 for the Florida Relays.
Senior distance runner Nathan Sanchez will be running in the men’s 1500m after coming off a first place performance in the 800m at the Toledo Collegiate Challenge. Sanchez last ran in the 1500m during the Mid-American Conference championships and set his career-best of 3:52.67 while finishing eighth.
He will be joined by his upperclassmen teammates while the less experienced members of the team will compete in the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State this weekend.
“I like the 1500 (meter) a lot,” Sanchez said. “It’s longer than the 800 obviously, but I like the challenge and pacing of the longer run. I feel like I train better for longer distance running, so running in this event suits me better.”
The Florida Relays will be hosting many teams the Chippewas do not routinely see throughout the regular season, therefore, they will work to leave a good impression.
“There are going to be a lot of good teams competing in this,” Sanchez said, “So we have to run good races and make sure we get good times in all of our events.”
The Chippewas have not competed in the Florida Relays before, so the team is going to take advantage of this opportunity they have in Florida.
“We will have to really do well with this opportunity in Florida,” Sanchez said. “All of us guys who got to come down here are really excited for this. The weather will be nice, so we get to run at night tomorrow and hopefully get some good wins.”
