The Georgia Southern track and field team is preparing for the final stretch of the season this week as it gears up to compete in the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships.

The Eagles have just a few precious weeks of practice before the conference tournament, and head coach Kelly Carter is looking to take advantage of these practices.

“We’re starting to get race ready,” Carter said. “When we start in the fall, there is a lot of volume, just not as much intensity. As you get to this time of year, the volume is low, but the intensity is very high.”

Coach Carter wants his girls to get used to giving all they have in practice, making it easier to do it at the championships.

“We’re actually getting out the blocks,” Carter said. “We’ll do things at about 85 to 90 percent of their max speed. It’s more of an actual race pace.”

The girls will have the next two weekends off, so they can rest and get ready for finals. Coach Carter knows that this will help have them ready for the meet.

“We want to get their bodies ready for that environment,” Carter said. “We want to give them enough rest along with taxing their bodies to compete at their best.”

This will be the Eagles first time competing in the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships. Coach Carter wants the girls to relax and just compete to the best of their abilities. Everyone wants the awards, but he just wants to see his girls give all they got at the Championships.

“I don’t want them to think about placing or times,” Carter said. “Just go out there and compete. If you go out and leave everything you have on the field, you can always walk away a winner.”

The Eagles have had success at multiple meets this year. Sophomore Kelsey Arnold broke the school record for the weight throw at the beginning of the season. Sophomore Samantha Cook won the shot put event at the North Florida Twilight a few weeks ago. And, freshman Karli Koning won the 3000m event at the Bob Pollock Invite.

At the Quad Meet, the 4×100 Relay team placed first, junior Ashleigh Rasheed won the triple jump, and junior Jordan Fordham and junior Asha Stegall won the 100m and 200m dash respectively at the same meet.

It has been a season of change, improvement and new records for the Eagles track and field program. The Eagles will continue to work and get better in the final weeks of the season as they prepare for their first Sun Belt Outdoor Tournament appearance.

They will travel to Gulf Shores, Alabama to compete in the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships on May 8.