At Pruitt Field, the only recent Mid-American Conference title banners sidelining the track are the ones of cross-country and field hockey — for Ohio’s track and field team, a banner hasn’t been added since 1994.
The team has only won three MAC titles since 1981, and an end of the negative trend is not in sight after the Bobcats posted a six-year low with a 11th place finish in 2012.
The fate of the struggling program, however, has not yet been determined by the student athletes and the coaching staff as much as factors decided by a higher power.
According the athletic department, the track and field and cross-country teams receive $245,777 from the General Fee each year. As a result, the track and field team is only able to spend $2,891.50 on each of the 49 athletes for coaching, equipment, traveling and meal expenses, without factoring in scholarships.
Although the track and field team’s indoor and outdoor seasons span six months, the amount of General Fee money allotted to each athlete is the lowest of 15 varsity sports on campus. Every women’s soccer athlete – the second-lowest ranked varsity team – is granted expenses of $9,824.64 every season.
Consequently, competition opportunities in Palo Alto, Calif., were only given to four track and field athletes in March. The rest of the team competed against mostly Division II teams at the Wake Forrest Open the same weekend.
While fewer funds lessen Ohio’s chances of recruiting talented athletes, not having an indoor facility almost completely diminishes them.
“Every time a high-caliber recruit is on campus, (he or she asks), ‘Where do we train in the winter?’ We don’t have any answer for that,” Ohio coach Clay Calkins said, adding that he simply can’t compete with the indoor facilities at Akron or Kent State.
Although a multipurpose center is set to break ground this summer, it will still not fulfill all of the track and field team’s needs. The Multipurpose Facility Programming Advisory Committee, in which Calkins was not included, never considered building an estimated $20 million facility with an oval six-lane track.
Instead, after first considering not including a track, the committee decided to construct a $12.6 million facility with a four-lane track — though no meets can be held there.
The four-lane track will not provide optimal practice conditions, as the 90-degree curves will be challenging for athletes to run at consistent speeds.
The athletic department’s lacking support is also visible during home meets, where Calkins is forced to organize more at the All-Ohio Championships than he is able to coach his athletes.
“For a larger event, such as football and basketball, it’s all hands on deck,” track and field assistant coach Mitch Bentley said. “Our meets and athletes would be better with a little bit more help, but that’s just the nature of track and field.”
am794811@ohiou.edu
