After spending the last few months indoors, the Tulane track and field team starts its outdoor season by hosting the Tulane Twilight Invitational March 4 at Tad Gormley Stadium in City Park.

This will be the first and only competition the Tulane track and field team will play in New Orleans this year, as they take on on challenging opponents such as Southeastern Louisiana and Xavier. 

“What we’re looking for is to start the season off at our home track against some familiar competition because the local teams are the ones that are going to come and participate,” head coach Eric Peterson said. 

The men’s distance runners will be returning to the track after a break when the cross country season ended in late November. The women’s track and field team completed its indoor season in the American Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 28 and 29 in Birmingham, Alabama, where the team earned ninth and sixth place on the respective days.

There, senior Lilla McMillan and redshirt senior Jasmine Blocker qualified for the NCAA National Championships on the final days of competition, and the track and field team earned 11 points on their way to qualifying for the final day. McMillan scored 16 collective points on the final day with her times in the 200 and 400-meter dash, winning bronze and gold respectively and setting meet records for both races. Blocker, a transfer from Princeton, set personal bests as she scored nine points for the same events.

With these finishes, McMillan and Blocker extend their indoor season, but the rest of the team continue to prepare for their first outdoor meet of the season.

“I definitely want to continue the streak,” McMillan said. “I have an incredible coach and an incredible training partner in Jasmine, who is literally one step next to me.”

Upcoming competition will take the track and field team to Texas, Florida and California, culminating in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon late this spring.

“I’m excited,” McMillan said. “I finished on a really high note last season, so I’d like to pick up where I left off.”

The track and field team competes in the Tulane Twilight Invitational all day this Friday at Tad Gormley Stadium.

“I think it’s going to be big,” Peterson said. “I think that our women’s team is better, deeper and more competitive than we’ve been in many years. We’ve got really strong junior and senior class leadership on the team. Generally speaking, we feel really good about the team.”