Bobcats coach Clay Calkins said he had high expectations for his track and field squad heading into the All-Ohio Championships. They've likely been grounded, at least for the time being.
Ohio finished 10th at the meet in Kent - their first team-scored contest of the indoor season. The Bobcats had strong performances from Annie Beecham and Melissa Thompson, just not much out of everyone else.
The distance crew stepped up and did a solid job for us
Calkins said. We have room for improvements on a lot of event areas. I think our jump (and) throwers crews could've had a better meet.
Thompson, a freshman, took second in the mile with a time of 4 minutes, 58.03 seconds. She also put the Bobcats in a great position in the distance medley relay, finishing the 1,200-meter leg - the first of the relay - in first place. The Bobcats finished fifth in the relay.
That's a tall order for any freshman especially in our conference up against the veteran conference distance athletes - and we've got a slew of them Calkins said. (Thompson) is a true freshman but already we're looking at her for potential points in the upcoming (MidAmerican) Conference Championships.
Beecham, competing in here first indoor meet of the season, finished third in the 3,000-meter run.
Annie's always been a person we've looked to for potential points in meets
Calkins said. We've got a young team and she's a fifth-year senior
so that has a great deal to do with her being able to step up.
She has responded well and did a great job in the meet for us but you need more than just a couple here and there.
Freshman Juli Accurso was the only other Bobcat to record a top-10 finish - eighth in the mile - at the meet.
Calkins said he was disappointed with the team's overall finish at the meet but was optimistic that the Bobcats would learn from the performance.
We've got a good core group of freshman and a good core group of upperclassmen as well, Calkins said. Hopefully we can put it together and make some improvements as the year progresses.
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33397,2011-01-23 22:05:00,Swimming and Diving: Bobcats leap past Akron with 13 first-place finishers,It was Senior Day and with all the parents in attendance
the Bobcats shined as they defeated conference foe Akron 172.5-116.5 Saturday afternoon.
,It was Senior Day and with all the parents in attendance
the Bobcats shined as they defeated conference foe Akron 172.5-116.5 Saturday afternoon.
Ohio blew past Akron by having a first place finisher in each of the first 13 events.
They competed very, very well, coach Greg Werner said. We were really happy with how they bounce back race to race and especially the leadership performance of our seniors today.
The performance of the seniors helped lift the Bobcats as a senior took first place in four different events. Rachel Heim won two events: the 200-yard free (1 minute
54.71 seconds) and the 100-yard fly (56.48).
It wasn't only in performance, because if you look at the close races, quite often it was a senior that was able to touch ahead of the competition, Werner said.
With the MAC Championships coming up in about a month
Werner said Akron is a good preview of what is to come.
Akron is a very good team. They're better than the final score indicates without a doubt. We were just fortunate to have won numerous close races where, if it went the other way, that score would have been a lot tighter.
Diver Lindsay Hamilton eclipsed 300 in the 1-meter dive again
as her 300.67 was good enough for the win.
Despite the win
Hamilton said she felt she could have done even better.
Things went really well on the 1-meter. I had a few misses here and there but overall it was a really great event for me, said Hamilton. 3-meter was a little rough, I completely blew my back 2-and-a-half and there were a few other misses so it wasn't my best event.
Amanda Cecere won two events
