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Last year's Adidas Classic was a big meet for Tommy Brinn.
In the 1,000-meter run, Brinn set a personal record time of 2:26.62, good for second place in the meet.
He's not likely to break it this weekend.
Brinn said he doesn't expect to beat any personal records because the team is on a training cycle.
"This year it's a different mentality," Brinn said. "Last year we were training really hard for this meet. This time we're training through this meet."
Brinn explained that the team has been training in cycles. The Adidas Classic doesn't act as the peak of the current training cycle the team has been on.
"For us, we're peaking for certain meets," Brinn said. "Really we're just starting to train through the races and peak. The week after (next week's Mark Colligan Memorial) we will actually rest up for the meet and really crank one out."
Saturday's Adidas Classic, which begins at 12:30 p.m. in the Bob Devaney Sports Center, will be Nebraska's first scored meet of the season. Nebraska's opponents at the meet, scored by NCAA scoring, will be Air Force, Houston, Iowa and Wichita State.
While Brinn said he doesn't expect any incredible numbers, he said there's a big gap between last week's Holiday Inn Invitational and this week's meet.
"Last week also the coach didn't really want us to strain anything," Brinn said. "He wanted us to run relaxed; not trying to get pushed or get hurt. This week we'll actually be running hard."
Brinn, as well as jumps coach Dusty Jonas, agreed that last week was mostly about shaking off the cobwebs of the offseason and making sure that all the training was working. Jonas said that in addition to this meet being scored, competition is a big difference in this week's meet, which features exclusively Division 1 schools.
"This weekend is a scored meet with a few teams coming that are a bit better," Jonas said. "It's going to be an interesting measuring stick for us."
At last year's adidas Classic, also held in the Devaney Center, the Husker men came away with a 179.5-134 victory against second place Houston, while the women won 190-115.5 against second place Wichita State.
While Jonas said he wasn't sure Nebraska would dominate the meet, he said he was confident in the team's progression.
"I think everybody's progressing," Jonas said. "I'm definitely expecting some improvement from the jumpers and across the track."
Some of that improvement came last week, when Brinn, a middle distance runner, won the 800 meter run and set a personal record in the 600 meter run en route to a first place finish. Distance coach David Harris said he was impressed by Brinn's performance, and has placed him on the "A" squad of the 4x400 meter relay team this week, replacing freshman sprinter London Hawk.
"Really we're just trying to get everyone to run and to get good times," Brinn said. "We're not really worried about running really fast as a team. We're just trying to get good splits."
Good splits could be crucial for Nebraska this weekend.
One area where the Huskers fell short in last season's adidas Classic was in the sprints. Houston dominated the sprint events, taking five of the top six spots in men's sprints (60 meter and 200 meter dashes) and five of the top eight spots in the same women's events.
While sprinting may be an uphill battle this weekend, there is one noticeable name missing from the participants list. Iowa All-American triple jumper Troy Doris will not be joining his Hawkeye teammates in Lincoln this weekend, leaving second team All-American triple jumper and All-American long jumper Chris Phipps of Nebraska the favorite to sweep the jumping events.
Second team All-American triple jumper and long jumper Mara Griva joins last week's winners, Anna Weigandt (triple jump) and Kara Mostoller (long jump) as favorites to sweep the long jump and triple jump.
In addition to the Adidas Classic, the Huskers will also be competing in the Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational at the Devaney Center today.
ChrisPeters@dailynebraskan.com
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