Kansas State University Athletics
SE: I’m So Ready – K-State Track & Field Prepares for Weekend Return
Dec 03, 2020 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: Austin Siegel
Lauren Taubert isn't going to mistake Ahearn Field House this weekend for the NCAA Championships.
No spectators. No K-State teammates there to cheer her on. For Taubert and the pentathletes, it might feel more like a practice than the first meet of the season.
She couldn't be more excited.
"I'm so ready to compete," Taubert said. "I don't have any expectations for myself, but I do have goals at this meet – times and heights that I would be happy with. Just to have a starting point for the season and see where I'm at."
The hype for the K-State Track & Field indoor season makes a little more sense after what Taubert and the Wildcats have been through over the past ten months.
K-State will compete in the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon and the K-State Winter Invitational this weekend at Ahearn Field House.
It will be the first meet for many K-State athletes since COVID-19 changed the landscape of college sports in March.
Taubert was in Albuquerque with her teammates at the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships, when the meet was canceled due to the outbreak of the virus.
Since then, the Wildcats have gone from working out in quarantine to finding ways to train while maintaining social distance requirements.
"Our biggest concern is to stay healthy, because in our sport little nagging injuries are big. If you're a sprinter and you're one percent off, you get beat. If you're two percent off, you get embarrassed," head coach Cliff Rovelto said. "You don't have a margin for error."
Priority number one for the Wildcats has been building back their fitness, after a summer when many K-State athletes didn't have access to team facilities or equipment.
Taubert said she was lucky - spending the summer in quarantine back home in Wyoming, she could use the track at a local high school and the weights in her parent's basement to train for the multi-events.
But she still had to get creative before the Wildcats started practicing as a team in the fall.
"When I came back, TJ [Shankar] and I were jumping over trash cans for the hurdles," she said. "But I think Coach prepared me over the summer, so I was doing some of the same things I would have done in Manhattan. When I came back, I was stronger and more prepared for training."
Returning to Ahearn Field House, the 71-year old gym that K-State calls home every winter, has meant building a practice schedule that keeps the Wildcats in smaller, social-distanced groups.
Rovelto said the Wildcats have rarely had more than 10 athletes practicing in Ahearn at the same time - with more than 100 members of the K-State Track & Field team, that means Taubert hasn't been able to watch many of her teammates make strides throughout the fall.
"It's kind of been a bummer for the team because we haven't gotten to know the new athletes," she said. "But, that's why I'm excited for the meets to start, just to watch the new athletes compete and get to know them better."
Of those Wildcats she's been able to train alongside, Taubert has a few she will be keeping an eye on this weekend.
Urte Bacianskaite returns to K-State for her sophomore season in the combined events, after a summer when Taubert said the Lithuania native made big strides.
She's also excited to watch sophomore Donovan Turner, who has impressed in practices throughout the fall, and sprinter Kyle Gale, returning after a promising freshman season.
Several Wildcats - including Taubert - only have eligibility remaining for the outdoor season in 2021. She will compete unattached throughout the indoor season - meaning her points won't count towards the K-State team score - before joining the Wildcats again in the spring.
As a team, K-State will also have a smaller group on the men's side throughout the winter, but All-American Tejaswin Shankar will be back in purple this weekend.
He already holds the Indian national record in the high jump, but Shankar has his sights set on conquering the heptathlon this season. Rovelto is expecting big things from the senior.
"There are certainly a couple of guys that I anticipate will have really outstanding years," Rovelto said. "I think what they're doing this weekend will demonstrate why."
For the women, he acknowledged that the Wildcats have several athletes who could reach the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2021, even though they don't have indoor eligibility this season.
Rovelto still expects an improved winter campaign for the K-State women, before an outdoor season that "could be the best we've ever had."
That might be the most exciting thing about the Wildcats returning to Ahearn Field House this weekend: every goal, both individual and as a team, still lies ahead for K-State Track & Field.
It's a moment Taubert can already picture, one that she has been preparing for since March.
"Just to be in the starting blocks, hear the gun go off and see what I can do."
Lauren Taubert isn't going to mistake Ahearn Field House this weekend for the NCAA Championships.
No spectators. No K-State teammates there to cheer her on. For Taubert and the pentathletes, it might feel more like a practice than the first meet of the season.
She couldn't be more excited.
"I'm so ready to compete," Taubert said. "I don't have any expectations for myself, but I do have goals at this meet – times and heights that I would be happy with. Just to have a starting point for the season and see where I'm at."
The hype for the K-State Track & Field indoor season makes a little more sense after what Taubert and the Wildcats have been through over the past ten months.
K-State will compete in the Carol Robinson Winter Pentathlon and the K-State Winter Invitational this weekend at Ahearn Field House.
It will be the first meet for many K-State athletes since COVID-19 changed the landscape of college sports in March.
Taubert was in Albuquerque with her teammates at the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships, when the meet was canceled due to the outbreak of the virus.
Since then, the Wildcats have gone from working out in quarantine to finding ways to train while maintaining social distance requirements.
"Our biggest concern is to stay healthy, because in our sport little nagging injuries are big. If you're a sprinter and you're one percent off, you get beat. If you're two percent off, you get embarrassed," head coach Cliff Rovelto said. "You don't have a margin for error."
Priority number one for the Wildcats has been building back their fitness, after a summer when many K-State athletes didn't have access to team facilities or equipment.
Taubert said she was lucky - spending the summer in quarantine back home in Wyoming, she could use the track at a local high school and the weights in her parent's basement to train for the multi-events.
But she still had to get creative before the Wildcats started practicing as a team in the fall.
"When I came back, TJ [Shankar] and I were jumping over trash cans for the hurdles," she said. "But I think Coach prepared me over the summer, so I was doing some of the same things I would have done in Manhattan. When I came back, I was stronger and more prepared for training."
Returning to Ahearn Field House, the 71-year old gym that K-State calls home every winter, has meant building a practice schedule that keeps the Wildcats in smaller, social-distanced groups.
Rovelto said the Wildcats have rarely had more than 10 athletes practicing in Ahearn at the same time - with more than 100 members of the K-State Track & Field team, that means Taubert hasn't been able to watch many of her teammates make strides throughout the fall.
"It's kind of been a bummer for the team because we haven't gotten to know the new athletes," she said. "But, that's why I'm excited for the meets to start, just to watch the new athletes compete and get to know them better."
Of those Wildcats she's been able to train alongside, Taubert has a few she will be keeping an eye on this weekend.
Urte Bacianskaite returns to K-State for her sophomore season in the combined events, after a summer when Taubert said the Lithuania native made big strides.
She's also excited to watch sophomore Donovan Turner, who has impressed in practices throughout the fall, and sprinter Kyle Gale, returning after a promising freshman season.
Several Wildcats - including Taubert - only have eligibility remaining for the outdoor season in 2021. She will compete unattached throughout the indoor season - meaning her points won't count towards the K-State team score - before joining the Wildcats again in the spring.
As a team, K-State will also have a smaller group on the men's side throughout the winter, but All-American Tejaswin Shankar will be back in purple this weekend.
He already holds the Indian national record in the high jump, but Shankar has his sights set on conquering the heptathlon this season. Rovelto is expecting big things from the senior.
"There are certainly a couple of guys that I anticipate will have really outstanding years," Rovelto said. "I think what they're doing this weekend will demonstrate why."
For the women, he acknowledged that the Wildcats have several athletes who could reach the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2021, even though they don't have indoor eligibility this season.
Rovelto still expects an improved winter campaign for the K-State women, before an outdoor season that "could be the best we've ever had."
That might be the most exciting thing about the Wildcats returning to Ahearn Field House this weekend: every goal, both individual and as a team, still lies ahead for K-State Track & Field.
It's a moment Taubert can already picture, one that she has been preparing for since March.
"Just to be in the starting blocks, hear the gun go off and see what I can do."
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