Buffs To Host First-Ever Meet In IPF

BOULDER — For almost a year, Colorado track and field team members have been producing some fast times in practice on the Sklar Family Track at the CU Indoor Practice Facility.

They'll finally have the chance to put some of those times down on paper this weekend when the Buffs host their first meet in the IPF, the annual Potts Invitational. The meet will begin Friday with field events at 3 p.m., followed by two more field events at 10 a.m. Saturday before the track events start at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Other teams competing will be Wyoming, Colorado State and Air Force.

Admission is free.

"There are workouts we do in here that I didn't expect our athletes to hit, especially early in the season," CU sprints and hurdles coach Burke Bockman said Wednesday. "Things are faster and easier inside here. It's a really fast track. What we're really excited for is the chance to put some of those times down on paper."

The IPF boasts a state-of-the-art Mondo track surface with a six-lane, 300-meter oval and an eight-lane sprint straightaway. All events except the weight throw will be held in the IPF. The weight throw will be contested in nearby Balch Fieldhouse.

CU coaches and staffers hope to use the first-ever meet in the facility as a "test run" for bigger meets in the future.

"I would like to have our opponents come and not have any big foul-ups," CU head coach Mark Wetmore said. "We have a brand new gym and a brand new timing system and I don't want to have a two-hour delay while we're scratching our heads over the new timing system. We've had two test runs and all of our timing people feel good about it. We want to be a good host, have some performances people are happy with even though it's early season and find out what we can do better next time, three weeks from now."

Temporary seating has been installed around the perimeter of the track, with room for approximately 650 to 800 fans. Because the building is primarily a practice facility and large restroom facilities are not available, temporary restrooms will be brought in and utilized in the same manner as on football game days.

"We're finding our way," Wetmore said. "Honestly, for our first meet, I'm expecting a C-plus weekend. But meet by meet, year by year, we'll tweak it and find better ways of doing things until we can get it up to an A-minus. We'll never have permanent seats in there but I think we can accommodate our guests."

The Buffs will host one more indoor meet after Saturday, the Feb. 3-4 Colorado Open.

The long-term goal is to reach a point when more and more prominent teams become interested in competing in Boulder. The best way to accomplish that goal is to produce some fast times — something CU coaches believe the IFP is well-equipped to do.

"We think if we put some fast times on paper here, teams throughout the country are going to look at that and have kind of an 'aha moment,'" Bockman said. "They're going to know that they need to be here in the future because this is where the fast times are going to be. With this oversized track and the widest turns in America, plus the thin air, we're hoping to put some times on paper that kind of surprise the country."

One possible meet in the future would be the conference indoor championship. The Pac-12 does not sponsor indoor track, so Pac-12 teams that do have indoor track squads compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Those conference championships are held each year on the University of Washington campus.

"I think UW could be talked out of having to host that every single year; the question is can we talk the opponents into bringing their half-milers and milers and 3K runners and 5K runners up here (to altitude)," Wetmore said. "I think they would be resistant to that. But they might want to bring their sprinters. I'm happy to have as big a meet as we can have and accommodate everybody, host everybody fairly and run it on time and be out of here before midnight."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu

Related Videos