Author: Keisha J Kelley
July 22, 2020
(Image PVAMU USATAF 2018)
Although The Southwestern Athletic Conference postponed Fall sports until Spring 2021 due to COVID-19, Prairie View A&M University Track and Field Program has garnered a major opportunity and one that will gain national spotlight on the program as they have been chosen to host USA Track and Field's Back to the Track series. The event expands over a three week time frame, beginning Thursday July 23 and will feature several notable professional athletes as well as international athletes that train the Texas area. The PVAMU Track Stadium was set to host pro competition during the PV Relays, which makes this the first mark of an outdoor competition for professional athletes this year. With COVID-19 bringing everything to a hault, the PV Relays were canceled. "They were all coming to PV Relays but that was cancelled, and it was devastating to the athletes because it was the first meet on the USA Track and Field series for the pro athletes to start outdoor competition," PVAMU Head Women's Track and Field Coach Angela Williams said. "The Women's Chair of USATF Rose Monday, Darrell Woodson and I started having discussions, and the series came up, and we talked about potentially having them here. Because our track is one of the best in the country and one of the few IAAF-certified tracks in the country, they wanted to see if we could host them here."
The series will feature a non-traditional schedule early on to help the participants to get back into the swing of things. The event has been structured with the health and safety of athletes in mind, as it adheres to USATF's COVID-19 competition guidelines. The first set of competition features the men's and women's 60-meter, 150-meter, 300-meter, 300-meter hurdles and 500-meter races. With PVAMU having one of the best tracks in the and one of the few IAAF-certified tracks in the conutry, this brings a lot of national exposure to the university as well at the Track and Field Program. This also moves the needle ahead for coaches during recruiting season. It bolsters PVAMU even higher being that the 2016 Olympic training camp was hosted there and now professional athletes want to compete here on a consistent basis.
On July 30, the events taking center stage include the men's and women's 100-meter, 100-meter hurdles, 110-meter hurdles, 200-meter, 400-meter, 400-meter hurdles and 600-meter races. Additionally, competition will be held in the men's long jump and women's triple jump.
August 6 concludes the series with action in the men's and women's 100-meter, 100-meter hurdles, 110-meter hurdles, 200-meter, 400-meter, 400-meter hurdles and 800-meter events. The women's long jump and men's triple jump will be featured as well.
As exciting as these events sound, they are not open to spectators to safety reasons. The competition will be shown via USATF.TV.
PVAMU Track and Field Program has once again raised the bar, and well....we love to see it!!