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ENMU track home at last

Saturday meet is program's first in nearly 40 years.

PORTALES — The Eastern New Mexico University Open is by any metric a small track meet, with the Greyhounds getting set to compete Saturday with just three other schools.

But the small meet is a big deal for a program that came back from a decades-long hiatus in 2006, but is still somewhat out of sight, out of mind.

"You can read about it in the newspaper, things like that, but for the community to come out and see these athletes run it's pretty special," ENMU track coach Jeff Kavalunas said. "We can give people a connection to what we're doing."

Field events will begin at 10 a.m. and running events 11 a.m. at Greyhound Stadium — which was constructed in 2016 with a stated goal to allow for home track meets. So far, the facility has hosted one high school meet — last year's District 4-4A meet, organized by Portales High School.

Teams expected to join ENMU Saturday are New Mexico Highlands, Pratt Community College (Kansas) and University of the Southwest. About 100 athletes are expected, mostly from those four schools with a few unattached athletes as well.

"It's a little bit smaller meet, but it's our first one in almost 40 years at the university," Kavalunas said. "One of our goals was to keep it smaller, so we can get the university and the community used to a university meet."

Kavalunas said he's been pleased to see so many local volunteers for the meet, especially since the university is designated to host the 2019 Lone Star Conference Championship meet.

While a home meet puts the coaching staff at a disadvantage, because they're juggling running a meet with coaching athletes, there are advantages for the athletes.

"We're not getting up early in the morning and traveling three or four hours or staying in a hotel room," Kavalunas said. "A lot of athletes are going to have their friends here to cheer them on, and maybe a few family members."

The team is coming off of a banner year for indoor track, with the men's team getting a program-record No. 14 poll spot and a 16th-place finish in the Division II championships. The Greyhounds only sent three athletes to the championships — Danee Bustos, Marcus Parker and Kenneth Lloyd — but Bustos earned second-team All-American while Parker and Lloyd scored 13 points in three total events.

"A little bit more of our focus is the outdoor season," Kavalunas said. "We have an expanded schedule, and we'll compete a little bit more. Having an outdoor facility, we've got to be ready for that."

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