In advance of the Great West Conference coming to Yankton later this week for the 2010 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, here’s an initial look at the three-day event.
The eight participating schools will include: University of South Dakota, North Dakota, Chicago State, New Jersey Tech, Texas-Pan American, Houston Baptist, Utah Valley and Seattle U.
The meet — held at Williams Field on the Yankton High School campus — begins Thursday with a handful of events. It will continue Friday and conclude Saturday.
For the most part, athletes and coaches will arrive in Yankton on Wednesday and some will stay as long as Sunday. So, of course, the economic impact of a five-day, four-night stay will be significant on the Yankton community. The Press & Dakotan will have a story on this for Wednesday’s paper.
In terms of the actual outcome, the best indicator right now might be the conference’s Outdoor Performance List. It ranks each event by best time or mark throughout the season. If you go by that, defending champion USD sits fairly well in both the men’s and women’s divisions. The Coyote women rank first in six events, while the USD men are first in three events, but both have several other top-five marks.
Later this week, we can delve more into the names you can watch for this weekend.
