Date Posted: 6/11/2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - For the sake of convenience, Lynette Rives could practice for her specialty - the 200 meters - by accelerating from the International Market and making the steep left turn past the Curb Event Center before gearing down at 18th Ave. South.

Just watch out for the traffic.

This is about as close as you get to a track at Belmont University. The bike lane on Belmont Boulevard on the southwest side of campus has decent traction and a fairly even turn. And if you time it just right, you have the lane all to yourself.

"It would be nice if we had a track on campus," Rives said. "But we're getting by."

Rives is getting by quite nicely. On Thursday, she will compete in the preliminaries of the 200 meters at the NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Des Moines, Iowa. Today, teammate Lauren Weaver will run in the prelims of the 5,000 meters.

After looking down the list of competitors and the schools they represent, it's a fairly safe bet that Rives and Weaver are the only people in the field that don't have ready access to a track.

"We do our weight work on campus and we pull tires around the soccer field to strengthen our legs, but that's about it," Rives said.

Otherwise, Belmont's track teams - both women and men - do their formal workouts on the facilities at Vanderbilt and Tennessee State. They depend on the kindness of strangers.

Related Links:
 • Full Article at Tennessean.com