The transition from indoor to outdoor seasons means some ISU track and field athletes will be changing events this weekend at the Sun Devil Open in Tempe, Ariz.

Women’s coach Dick Lee said most of the men and women will perform in events somewhat similar to the ones they performed in during the indoor season.

“We have girls — Sara Boisen, Jo Legg and Haley Younger — who will run the 400-meter hurdles, and some throwers, mainly Susan Sherman, who will compete in some new events,” Lee said. “Susan didn’t throw the hammer and discus throws indoors, so those events will be new for her this year.”

Lee said being outdoors will be a learning experience for all of the athletes.

“The visual cues change, mostly for the jumps and the field events,” Lee said. “The kids have to deal with the wind and sun. They didn’t have to deal with that indoors.”

Women’s sprint, hurdles and multi-event coach Scott Roberts agreed with Lee and added other factors that differ between indoor and outdoor track.

“Another big difference will be that the outdoor track size is bigger than the indoor track,” Roberts said. “[The outdoor track] is bigger, so the runners won’t have to run as many laps. Ada [Anderson] will run the same event, but instead of four laps, she now only will run two laps.”

Roberts said Rebecca Williams will run the 400-meter hurdles at some point in the season, but not until she qualifies for nationals in the 100-meter hurdles. Williams, who qualified for the outdoor nationals last year, said she is hoping to take everything she has proven indoors into the outdoor season.

She said she hopes to do well at the Sun Devil Open, since she is from Yuma, Ariz.

“I will be going back home and see some people that I was teammates with — when I was 10-18 years old — from the summer track team,” Williams said. “I hope to open up with a clean race by not hitting any hurdles.”

Jumps and vaults coach Ron McEachran said his team will do some things differently in preparation for outdoor events.

“We will be doing more high-value training, more weightlifting and longer sprints, but the rest will not change,” McEachran said.

Jamal Salahuddin, who threw the shot put during the indoor season, will now compete in the discus along with the shot. Salahuddin doesn’t believe the change to the discus will be a tough transition.

“The discus throw is similar to the shot, so I just have to add more training that I picked up last year,” Salahuddin said. “The big difference will be that the wind will be a factor with the discus, mainly because of the way the discus is shaped.”

Men’s distance runner Dan Taylor said it’s easier and more enjoyable to run outside. Taylor also said there are some negative factors to the outdoor season.

“Usually the wind is a major running factor in early spring,” Taylor said.

“It shouldn’t be too windy in Arizona, but a lot hotter.”