Turk leads women's track into Spartan Invite
After a relatively busy weekend of competition women's track now looks forward to its next competition at Michigan State University’s Spartan Invitational.
With CMU sent a majority of its athletes to compete at the Toledo Collegiate Challenge and among those who ran in the meet was junior Shawntoreah Turk. The sprinter looked to adjust from a performance where she earned a fifth-place finish in the women’s 400m race with a time of 57.28.
“I have been training a lot and I’ve also been doing a lot of sprint workouts to get my speed back up,” Turk said.
Turk will have the privilege of competing alongside a full team this weekend and, in her opinion, which could make an impact on overall team performance and morale. The Chippewas will be able to obtain more momentum with all of its athletes running in one spot in East Lansing.
“We’ll have the whole team there to support each other instead of just having four other teammates,” Turk said. “It should help us out.”
Geographically, CMU and MSU are only a stones throw away; the two universities share a common background and many students are State fans at heart. This meet, being so close, could bring up a rivalry-type atmosphere with the will to excel greater than it has been in previous meets.
“I think we have a lot to prove this weekend and we have put in just as much work and time into our bodies as anybody else has,” Turk said. “We are able to compete just as hard as them.”
Despite whatever might come out of the meet this weekend, Turk remains positive and claims the team is motivated and raring to go now that the outdoor track and field season is now in full swing. Soon the weather will turn around and the remains of winter will cease to exist, which is helpful, especially in the outdoor season.
“We’re all coming together,” Turk said. “Everybody is hitting their marks just as projected, so I think we’re all doing pretty good even though we’ve yet to compete as a full team.”
As far as personal goals for the Spartan Invite are concerned, Turk hopes to come away with better marks and improve upon last week’s race in Toledo
“Last weekend was upsetting, so I’m trying to attack the 400m again and get a lower mark this time around,” said Turk.
