The men’s and women’s track and field teams will open their outdoor season next week as they travel south for competition

The men will travel to the University of Georgia for the Georgia Relays March 15-16. While competition is still unknown for the Panthers, last year four teams competed in the meet, this year men’s head coach Tom Akers is expecting a few more.

“There’s not many teams, but this year there should be more because I think they went out and recruited a little for this meet,” he said.

The focus for the team will be on the new events welcomed into the outdoor season.

“Our emphasis is on javelin, discus, the 400 IM-hurdles and the steeplechase,” Akers said. “We’re trying to get those events in there and get started.”

While the Georgia Relays is structured in relay format, there will still be individual competition.

“You can get used to the outdoor distance without a time on you,” Akers said.

The other advantage of the spring break trip is the change in weather from Charleston to Athens, Ga.

“When it was cold here Monday, it was about 30 in Athens, so hopefully it’ll be warmer, but no matter how cold it is here, it’s still going to be about 15-20 degrees warmer there,” Akers said.

The women will be taking a similar spring break trip, but will be competing in the Snowbird Invite at Florida State March 15-16.

Florida State typically hosts the Florida State Relays the following weekend, but because the spring break of many universities does not coincide with that invite, Florida State will host the Snowbird.

“It’s a precursor to the Florida State relays and it’s a pretty large meet – at least over 40 teams,” women’s head coach John Craft said. “There’s a huge, long list of teams who showed interest in competing.”

But the focus for the women will be different than the men.

“The team can bond in a confined area and I mix up roommates so that it is an opportunity for them to get to know people they don’t normally hang out with in a different area,” Craft said.

And while the distance crew will mesh with the sprinters and throwers, training will be the main priority of the team.

“The least important thing on this trip is having fun,” Craft said. “It’s incidental. We’re going down to train.

“We want to have a good week of training under out belt.”

The next competition scheduled for the men and women following spring break will be March 22-23 at the SIU Collegiate Series in Carbondale.