After a relatively small meet last weekend, the Ohio men's and women's track teams will face broader competition today at the Central Collegiate Championships at Eastern Michigan.
It's one of the bigger indoor meets we go to
said Ohio coach Clay Calkins. We'd like to do well at this meet. Central Collegiate is a great meet; at the same time it's high-caliber competition. You have to have some of your best performances to compete.
The men are riding the momentum of winning 11 events at Bowling Green last weekend. Middle-distance runner Jason Linton won the 1600 meter run and took second in the 600. He said that despite the win, he is not satisfied with his mile time early in the season.
I wasn't too pleased with my mile performance but it was the first meet of the year he said. I didn't really know what to expect or what kind of shape I was in.
Linton, who will run the 800 today, said the larger meet would raise the tempo of his race.
I'm definitely going to get pushed
because there's going to be good competition
he said.
On the women's side, the team hopes to improve on a fourth-place finish last week. Rachel Diehl reached 10 feet 6 inches in the pole vault last week. She said she is confident that she can go higher.
Since I went 10-6 last week
I was pretty close to getting 11 on my third attempt
so hopefully I'll get 11
she said.
Her opponents will be tougher to match, as well, Diehl said.
Kira Sims (of Akron) goes 13 feet
and there's a couple other girls that are going to be there that can go 12
she said.
Calkins said the mix of Mid-American Conference opponents and other teams will make for good preparation for bigger meets later in the season.
All our meets are in preparation
he said. We want to do really well at the All-Ohio in mid-February
