The steeplechase, a distance running event that features hurdles and water jumps, will be on of the features of the Lovejoy Invitational Meet on Saturday, March 5.

“We will be one of a handful of schools in the state of Texas that will offer the Steeplechase event,” girls varsity track coach Logan Kelly said. “Our booster club has put in a lot of hours to get the steeplechase ready so it should be a lot of fun to see this event kickoff this weekend.”

Kelly said the team was “excited” to host the meet.

”It takes a lot of time and planning to host a home track meet but we are ready to go,” Kelly said. “Our home meet will only have eight teams but all eight teams are high in quality. “We even have the 4A boys state cross country champion that is entering our meet for the 3200M and 1600M because of the high level of competition our meet will offer.”

The field events will start at 8:30 a.m. and the track events will start at 12:30 p.m. The forecast calls for 78 degrees and 49 percent humidity.

Last weekend, the girl’s team improved a lot in the McKinney Boyd Bronco Relays. The 4×400 team ran a 4:07 which is significantly better than their last couple of meets. Freshman Carson Hockersmith ran very well and earned third place in the 3200 meters and second in the 1600.

Sophomore Grace Ridgeway had a big day as she won the pole vault event and set a new personal best with a 10-6, improving her best vault by one foot. That mark puts her as the number one girl pole vaulter in the Region II 5A.

The Lovejoy boys track and field team finished second overall at McKinney Boyd.

“It was great for our guys to run in a few different races that they haven’t run in before,” boy’s varsity coach Tim Denton said. “It was a great experience for our athletes.”

The boys previously placed sixth at the Chris Givens Invitational on Feb. 20 with top performances from junior Grant Tiff, who won the 1600 and placed second in the 3200, and senior Noah Landguth, who placed fourth in the 800.