LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More than 2,000 track and field athletes are competing in west Louisville this weekend.

Teams started arriving to the Lenny Lyles Invitational at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center Thursday night.

"Amazing facility. This is one of the nicest ones we've been to and we travel all over with the team," Latonya Rudolph said.

Rudolph drove in from Knoxville to watch her daughter, Laila Rudolph, compete for Middle Tennessee State University.

Joining her was a team of supporters, some from Louisville and others from Pensacola.

"I'm so excited that she was able to be here to do it. My grandmother who passed. She was telling me about this facility for years, 'Oh I bet Laila will run here one day,' so I know she and my other grandmother, my dad, everybody's here with us in spirit," Rudolph said.

UofL is helping host 32 colleges and universities, including Marshall University, the University of the Cumberland, and locals like Bellarmine, UK, and UofL.

"Oh, I love it. what surprised me was watching them raise the track. I was like there's no bank curves here. And then all of a sudden the whole track just gets raised up and it has banked --- it was pretty impressive," Chris Grassel, who attended the meet, said.

The Grassel's joined their son, Eric Grassel, all the way from Texas to watch him vault for Texas Tech University.

"Thank you guys for hosting, for the town hosting this event. Kids needs to do more events like this," Grassel, said.

LENNY LYLES NORTON SPORTS CENTER

More than 2,000 track and field athletes are competing in west Louisville this weekend.

Marcus McAlpin oversees the facility. He said they've been planning for a couple of months.

Many visitors are staying in hotels downtown and some have plans to explore others parts of Louisville before going home.

"We're seeing that Lenny Lyles is broadcast and more and more know how elite this track is and so more colleges are wanting to come, more Olympians are wanting to come, more pros are wanting to come," McAlpin, the assistant general manager at ASM Global, said.

Tickets are $10 at the door and parking on-site is $5. For more information, click here.

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