The Bobcats may not be one of the Mid-American Conference's elite teams, but Saturday at the MAC Championships, they'll be as motivated as any squad on the course.
For the first time in 12 years, the meet will be held on Ohio's home course. With their entire conference descending upon Athens and the Ohio University Golf Course, the Bobcats want to defend their turf with pride.
You always want to come out and race well
especially on our home course sophomore Dan Quarfoot said. It's Halloween weekend for us it's our course and we've got the (MAC) coming down to see our town.
It's very big for us. I think we're all pretty pumped up for it.
Ohio could use a solid performance. Neither the men nor women have had particularly good seasons to this point. With both sides' best runners redshirting
the Bobcats have yet to finish first in any meet this season.
The men and women often run in packs of five or six athletes. Usually
the pack sits far behind Ohio's top runner. The Bobcats have been aiming for their packs to finish closer to their top runners all season
but without much success.
Saturday is a chance for the top five to catch up with the lead runner with the meet on the line.
We definitely haven't moved up as much as we wanted to, Quarfoot said. We're still pretty inconsistent.
We still have to close that gap
so I guess nothing's really changed.
Though this is the first MAC Championships for the freshmen, it is redshirt senior Aadam Soorma's fifth.
Soorma said he will miss running for Ohio, but will be ready to go on Saturday.
We are definitely trying to peak for MACs
Soorma said. For the seniors and for myself
it's like one last push
one last race
and you have to treat it like it's your last race.
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29695,2009-10-28 21:03:00,Swimming and Diving: Bobcats seek strong start to season,The Ohio swimming and diving team begins its season against Buffalo and Akron this weekend
