NATCHEZ — After months of practice and focus on improved technique, the Natchez High School track and field team is set to attend its first meet of the season.

The Bulldogs will travel to Baton Rouge to take part in the 2010 LSU High School Indoor Classic Friday and Saturday. The meet will feature athletes from both high school teams and track club teams.

NHS track coach Larry Wesley said the classic would be a great chance to see where his athletes stack up against other athletes at this early point of the season.

“It’s a good development time for us,” Wesley said. “It’s also a good measuring stick of where we are at and how we’ll measure up to other teams.

“I have a couple of kids that I expect to do very well. I think a lot of them who competed in this meet last year will do better this time around with a year of experience under their belts.”

The presence of track clubs is sure to bring the level of competition up, Wesley said.

“A lot of track clubs will be there, and very few high school teams will be there, so a lot of the competition is more fierce,” Wesley said.

Senior Alicia Wimley said that track clubs usually consist of a wider variety of athletes, since you don’t have to go to a particular high school to join them.

“They’re better competition, because they have athletes from everywhere,” Wimley said. “With the high schools, they just have athletes that attend that school.”

Because of this, Wesley said a top 20 finish in this weekend’s meet would be considered a good outcome.

“With track clubs, they’re more individualized. It’s their life — it’s what they really want to do. With our team, we have children that are still trying to find themselves and what they want to do.

“I always tell them, if they finish in the top 20 against those guys, they’ve done pretty well.”

Wimley, who will compete in the triple jump, 60-meter hurdles, 4×200-meter relay and 400-meter dash, has been to every indoor classic at LSU since her freshman year. Three years of experience gives her a pretty good idea of what to expect at the meet, she said.

“There should be a lot of good competition from all over the country,” Wimley said.

Senior Sierra Bates, who looks to compete in the 55-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the long jump, said she would have to put in extra effort to stay at the same pace as the more seasoned athletes.

“There should be a lot of quickness, hard work and focused people at the meet,” Bates said. “They’ll probably be a little better than me, but I’m going to work hard to try and keep up with them.”

Cold weather around the Miss-Lou has moved the Bulldogs indoors for most of their practice sessions, but Wesley said he likes making use of Natchez’s indoor practice facility.

“The green room makes it easy for us,” Wesley said. “It gives me a chance to get the basics down with the high jumps, hurdles, pole vault and relays. You can do pretty much everything in here.

“It could be a little bigger, but it does what I want it to do. I can work on the mechanics of how to run and jump.”