By Bart Logan | bl245106@ohio.edu

Ohio coach Clay Calkins knew a his squad would need to put on its best performance of the season to have any chance of top finish at the indoor Mid-American Conference Championships last weekend. Even that might not be enough.

The 'Cats got exceptional performances -- which they have come to expect -- from the distance squad, including a first-place finish for the distance medley relay team and top-five finishes from Annie Beecham and Juli Accurso.

They even got some pleasant surprises with a sixth-place finish for Brittany Tyree in the pentathlon and an eighth-place result for Lauren McCullough in the weight throw. But those were outliers and as they have all indoor season, the Bobcats struggled mightily in the throws and jumps, which played a huge role in the team's 10th-place finish at the championships.

Calkins said that his squad was unable to reach its full potential due in large part to the fact that they have no indoor training facility, and the harsh and often unpredictable Athens winter weather limits their opportunities to train.

"We always want to finish higher. We try to get up to that mid part of the conference," Calkins said. "With the lack of facilities, that leads to a lack of preparation."

He said that issue was magnified by the inexperience on the throws and jumps side.

“We have a young squad on throws and jumps. We’re not able to long-jump inside. We’re not able to high-jump inside. We can’t do anything," Calkins said. "We have about eight meets before the conference championships. We have about eight practices to get ready to go to the MAC.” 

Without an indoor facility, Calkins said his ability to attract some top athletes in those events has been impeded.

"Some of the calibre of athletes we get in is hindered. They don't want to put themselves in a bad training situation," he said. "You don't want to use excuses but that's basically why we're a better team outdoors."

But even when the outdoor season comes around, Calkins said his squad is still somewhat disadvantaged.

"We're still behind because (other) athletes have had two months of extra, high-quality training, where ours just now started working outside," he said. "We're dealing with Akrons and Kents and they've just been getting better training than we've been getting."

Twitter: @bart_logan, @ThePostSports