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Luke Moody provides a good indication of how young the University of Louisiana's delegation will be at this weekend's Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.
UL coach Lance Veazey points to Rayne product Moody, just a sophomore, as one of the team leaders.
"It just kind of worked out that way," said Moody, who will run the hurdles and high jump at the league meet Saturday and Sunday in Murfreesboro, Tenn. "We needed someone to lead drills and nobody really stepped forward to take charge of stretching."
The women's team had an experienced leader, with Andree Bonvillain back for her fourth year as the top pole vaulter in the Cajun program's history.
"It's different this year," Bonvillain said. "I'm kind of one of the older ones out here now."
Graduation hit the UL track program heavily last year. That's a good thing for graduation rates and for fulfilling the ultimate goal of the university and the athletic program, but it also left the Cajuns with its youngest track team in years.
<center><p><a href="http://www.acadiananow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/SPORTS/602240350/1006">The rest of the story</a>
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com
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"For a lot of our guys, the conference meet will be the fourth indoor meet of their lives," Veazey said. "Most of them had never run indoors until this year."
Moody was in that position last year, when he and junior transfer Kyle Ward made up the team's hurdles contingent. Ward finished fourth in last year's indoor meet in the 55-meter hurdles, and he and Moody enter the league meet ranked second and fourth in the event.
"I never ran any indoors in high school," said Moody, "so it was a little different. But we've worked a lot outdoors and we've learned how to do everything we can to prepare."
Bonvillain also made the indoors adjustment, well enough to finish third in the conference indoor meet as a sophomore. She followed that with a fourth-place finish last year, and is hoping to improve on both marks this year.
"My indoor best is 11-8, and I'm hoping for 12 feet this year," said the Houma and Terrebonne High product. "I got a new pole yesterday (Wednesday) and practiced with it, and it felt pretty good. If I get to 12 feet indoors or outdoors this year, I'll be happy."
Bonvillain "discovered" pole vaulting in her sophomore year - the first year for girls' vaulting in Louisiana - when track coach Joe Clement watched her as the "flyer" off the top of cheerleader pyramids.
"I was in the long and triple jumps but I got bumped out of those by people with better marks," Bonvillain said. "He saw me there and figured I was used to heights."
Bonvillain went on to win three state prep titles in the event with a prep best of 11-7, with one of those titles coming indoors to give her a leg up on indoor experience over most of her teammates.
"For me it's mostly just the different surface," she said. "Indoors is a lot faster and it affects your steps. But if you prepare outside when the wind's blowing and then you go inside where there isn't any wind, it's a big difference."
Moody also was a regular at the Louisiana state meet with four appearances, all outdoors before he joined the UL squad. But he's already looking ahead to this year's Sun Belt outdoor meet, which will be held at UL's newly-renovated track facility.
"Kyle and I are already talking about who we have to watch, who's going to be our biggest competition outdoors," Moody said. "We're just getting through this one and then focusing on outdoors."
"The other vaulters have to come to my territory outdoors," Bonvillain said. "It's easier for me to compete at home, and we have to take advantage of that."
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