The Syracuse track and field team is headed to Providence, R.I., this weekend for the Brown Invitational, a low-key meet that will prepare the squad for important competition later this month.

It’s so low-key, in fact, that Syracuse isn’t even sure who else will be competing.

‘I don’t know,’ pole-vaulter Jessyca Jackson said. ‘I never know until we get there. Our coach tells us maybe the night before. Maybe.’

‘It’s probably going to be us, Brown, Northeastern and a bunch of other New England teams,’ sprinter Alison Culley said. ‘We usually don’t find out until we get there.’

Even throws coach Cheree Hicks couldn’t offer much insight into the weekend’s lineup.

‘It’s an invitational,’ she said. ‘So it’s a whole bunch of teams that are going to be from everywhere.’

One thing’s for sure, though — the weather won’t be accommodating to an outdoor track meet. Saturday’s forecasts call for rain, winds and temperatures in the mid-50s, and a last-minute packing mix-up means that many players will be without their warmest attire. Players have shirts and shorts, but no cold-weather clothing.

‘The fact that the weather is going to be a little rough this weekend may make the task a little bit harder,’ sprinter and jumper Richard Polidore said. ‘But it should still be achievable. We have to just be ready to bring it every single day, no matter what the weather’s like.’

Syracuse is staying over in Providence tonight. Even if the weather is nice, an 11 p.m. curfew will still keep the athletes cooped up inside.

‘If it was a little closer,’ Polidore said, ‘it’d be a one-day meet. We’d just leave in the morning and come back that afternoon.’

‘Providence doesn’t seem like the most hip-hop, happening place to go,’ jumper Josh Johnson said, explaining why the early night won’t be much of a problem.

Johnson, a self-proclaimed non-sprinter, will compete in the 200-meter dash at Brown, much to his dismay.

‘The last time I really sprinted was in high school, and I’m a junior,’ he said.

Johnson and Polidore are both in sprinting events, though they usually train as jumpers.

‘The thing is, (Johnson’s) not a sprinter, but he’s fast,’ Jackson said. ‘(He and Polidore) are in the jump squad with me, but they’re fast. So the head coach puts them in.’

Perhaps the coaches are trying to turn Polidore and Johnson into more flexible athletes, like teammate Chris Telesford, who has run competitively in almost every event he’s tried.

‘He’s the guy we call Mr. Versatility,’ Polidore said.

Telesford expects to compete in three events at Brown, a meet he missed last year because of a back injury.

‘I can pretty much run anything,’ he said. ‘They say that any relay that they run, I’ll be on it.’

Since this is a scored meet, mixing up the participants in each event should yield more points for Syracuse.

‘Everybody’s plan is to win,’ Hicks said. ‘Everybody’s plan is to run fast and jump far. You can’t call it in track and field because you can’t be on all the time. You have to do so many things to get to excellence, it’s not even funny.’

Published on April 10, 2003 at 12:00 pm