Ohio will take on the MAC Championship this Saturday at Central Michigan. Both teams are expected, through coach Clay Calkins’ eyes, to at least finish top-five and maybe into the top-three.
Coach Clay Calkins says there is no magic in cross country and his teams are going to have to be realistic to compete in this Saturday’s Mid-American Conference Championship.
Central Michigan will be hosting the meet, which Calkins said may have an effect on his men’s squad in particular.
“You have a home-based crowd and typically athletes respond well when you have your friends, family and classmates,” Calkins said.
Calkins said Central Michigan has a good men’s team so running at home will definitely give them a little bit of an advantage. Despite an edge for Central Michigan, he believes his squads will do extremely well at the MAC Championship.
Last season, Ohio had its best finish since 2007, placing fourth in the MAC Championships. Early in the season, Calkins said his men’s team has the potential to be a top-three competitor — placing them higher than last season.
“We want to shoot higher than top five,” Calkins said. “And there were some teams in the conference that have stepped up this season, Akron being one of them. We’ve had heads up competition with Akron multiple times.”
Although Akron has been competitive with the Bobcats this cross country season, Eastern Michigan — the defending MAC Champions — is a team Ohio cannot overlook.
The women’s squad finished fifth in the MAC Championship last season and Calkins said they are capable of placing the same as last year and possibly better.
“Upfront, Toledo, Eastern Michigan and Miami have a very solid crew,” Calkins said. “With that being said, [third] is not unattainable by us. The top two positions are going to tough for us to break into.”
With two strong opponents in Eastern Michigan and Toledo, Calkins said the women will need to run strong to come in first or second. However, he said they have been doing the same thing all season to sharpen their skills for Saturday.
One thing that the team has done to prepare themselves was running at the Ridges to run on a similar course that they will this weekend, junior Kayla Scott said.
“I think they can run a better race than [at pre-nationals] and I think they are ready to prove it at the MAC meet,” Calkins said.
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