As Mariesa Greene and the Illinois women’s track and field team prepares for the Illinois Invitational this weekend, there is one detail that sticks out: the weather.

Due to the rain and cold weather that has plagued Champaign for the past week, the women are preparing for their first outdoor home meet inside the Armory.

“Good weather,” Greene said. “We’re hoping for good weather this weekend, that would be nice.”

Word came Wednesday that the Illinois Invitational would be moved from Saturday to Sunday. The annual meet was moved to steer clear of bad weather and ensure the best conditions possible.

Last year at the Illinois Invitational, the women took the team title and came away with eight first place finishes. This year, the focus is on competing and establishing a solid team.

“We’re going to run people in a number of events and try to get in a lot of work this week,” head coach Gary Winckler said. “When we go to Kansas Relays next week, the entry standards will be a little more stringent, so people will not be able to do as many events. We’re trying to accomplish some needs.”

Some of the Illini athletes will be in more events than usual while others will be taking a break from their customary events.

Winckler is looking for those in the latter category to be able to focus on some conditioning.

He said that certain athletes would be working on their speed by running in shorter sprinting events and that others will be in similar situations.

“We’re trying to get some people the opportunity to run in some events that they normally wouldn’t get into in some of the bigger meets,” Winckler said. “It makes it kind of fun for them too; you get to do something you normally do.”

Even with some of the athletes changing events, little changed as far as mental preparations for the meet.

“I look to do the same thing as I would do if it were like Texas relays,” Greene said. “It’s the same mind set, I want to do the best that I can. It’s good to do that stuff earlier in the season, so you can build on it and not put pressure on yourself to qualify for Regionals or Big Tens.”

The team wants to build upon the meet this weekend and its next two meets afterward, the Kansas Relays and the California Collegiate Challenge, to bolster its qualifying times and entry marks for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.

“The Big Ten meet is where it’s at,” assistant coach Tonja Buford-Bailey said. “Everything has to be right by that point. Anything after that is just bonus, but everyone has to be on point then.”

While the team is preparing for the championship part of the season, it is focusing on Sunday’s Invite.

The weather, however, may be the ultimate factor in determining how much of the “work meet” they can get in.

“It’s not so much the rain, as it is the cold and rain,” senior Yvonne Mensah said. “It all depends … the track can get slick, for hurdling and jumping, but we just have to keep our fingers crossed.”