After an impressive cross country season this year, head coach Alonzo Webb looks forward to a… After an impressive cross country season this year, head coach Alonzo Webb looks forward to a successful men and women’s indoor track and field season.

With a youthful squad, the Panthers will rely on veteran standout senior athletes such as Tamara McGill, Kimberly Lyles, Amanda Walker and Maureen McCandless to lead the team by setting a good example.

The rookies will have plenty of experienced teammates to look up to in athletes like McGill, who was an NCAA finalist and Big East fourth-place finisher in 2004, and Lyles who qualified for the NCAA Championships and finished 14th in the nation. Lyles also holds a school record in the 4×200-meter relay, set in 2003.

Additionally, the indoor track and field team will benefit from McCandless, who broke records left and right during the 2004 cross country season.

“Maureen McCandless is coming off the best cross country season at the University of Pittsburgh,” Webb said.

Walker, a thrower who has already provisionally qualified for nationals, prides herself in hard work and motivation.

“It’s my job,” Walker said. “All the seniors are trying to get the younger girls motivated. Whatever I have to do to support them, I lead.”

Webb also applauds Walker’s attitude.

“[She is] a person who leads by example,” Webb said. “She gets everyone motivated.”

Success isn’t a stranger to Walker. She was named All-Big East and earned a 2001-02 Big East Indoor Championship in Shot Put. Walker also has a third-place finish in the shot put and a fourth-place finish in the weight throw in the Indoor Big East Championships.

In 2004, Walker was a Big East runner-up in the weight throw and Big East Champion in shot put.

Walker set her personal and team goals even higher for this coming track and field season.

“My ultimate goal is All-American,” she said, adding that, “The ultimate team goal is to win the Big East.”

The men’s indoor track and field team also has high expectations as a young squad. Like the women’s team, the men will turn to their experienced teammates for leadership.

“I’m watching over them because I’ve been there before,” said Jeryl Wilborn, who is this year’s senior, All-Big East captain. “If I see anyone slipping, I am there to support them.”

Wilborn also looks for his team to improve on its performance in previous years of competition.

“We gained a solid group of distance runners that Pittsburgh never had,” Wilborn said.

Matt Brousse, who is a senior captain and holds the school record for pole vault, will return to lead the men’s team as a captain.

The Panthers will kick off their season this weekend. The men and women will start on Friday at the Skip Summerville Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

They will then travel to Kent, Ohio, for the Black Squirrel Classic. The season will culminate with the Big East Championships in Syracuse, which will take place in mid-February.