Lorraine Hill knows that she will have many opportunities this season to qualify for the NCAA Regional Championships. But that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want to get it out of the way.
 

At the Texas Relays last week, Hill’s throw of 42.15 meters in the javelin qualified her for both the Big East Championships and the ECAC/IC4A Championships.
 

‘I’d like to qualify for regionals there,’ Hill said. ‘But I’m not going to get all mentally psyched out about it.’
 

And with a strong showing in the Arizona State Sun Angel Classic this weekend, Hill can get rid of the pressure facing her by qualifying for regionals with a qualifying throw of 43.45 meters. That’s the number. Hill, along with 16 other Syracuse track and field athletes, will head out west this weekend to compete in the Tempe, Ariz., meet.
 

The meet follows last weekend’s Texas Relays, which had mixed results for the Orange. Two athletes placed in the top 10 in their events, respectively, while Hill finished in 12th place in the javelin.
 

The competition does not figure to get much easier out West this weekend. For the second straight meet, SU will be facing off against some of the nation’s top teams. Still, Syracuse proved last weekend that it can compete with the best of the best. And although this weekend is a competitive warm-up for future races, the team still has lofty goals.
 

‘They got that last (meet) out of the way and now it’s time to get better,’ assistant coach Dave Hegland said. ‘This is a big meet in terms of qualifying. All this is prep for our postseason meets.’
 

While Hill is looking to qualify for regionals, senior teammate Jon Buice is just looking to make it out of the meet healthy. After injuring his hip for the second time in as many years, Buice will compete for the first time since the SU Invitational held in early February.
Despite the injury, Buice will compete in three events — all preparation for the decathlon that he will participate in later this season. Before the injury, Buice, like Hill, was one SU’s top performers on the season.
 

‘It’s not an injury that is hindering my performance,’ Buice said. ‘I just have to get through it.’
 

Hill, meanwhile, knows what to expect under the Tempe heat. After being back in Syracuse for just two days, she heads out West for the second straight weekend, knowing what to expect in a big meet like this.
 

In years past, SU has started the outdoor season with smaller competitions. But this year, the team has opened the season with three big meets on the West Coast.
 

‘We want to get our feet wet,’ Hill said. ‘We got thrown in with the best and did well considering it was our first time out on the West Coast.
 

‘Some people come out and compete better in big competition.’
 

After some early intimidation in Texas, Hill went out and had a throw of 42.15 meters, good for 12th place among tough competition.
 

This weekend, Hill hopes her throw is good enough to qualify for regionals.
 

Even though it’s only the fourth meet of the outdoor season and the first for many of this weekend’s competitors, the meet will provide good practice while allowing SU to face top competition. That’s important for meets later this season.
 

‘Every meet from here on out gets more and more important,’ Hegland said.
 

For Hill, she goes into this meet knowing what to expect. But that doesn’t make the competition any easier. Still, some good competition may be what this team needs as it prepares for meets later on this season, especially the Big East championships.
 

Said Hill: ‘As long as we have good competition there is no reason why we shouldn’t have good results.’
 
rnmarcus@syr.edu

Published on April 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu