Eagles enter last week before NCCAA Indoor Championships

Photo by: Henoc Kivuye

 

Freshman Katie Jones was announced as the new qualifier in the 5,000-meter in the Oklahoma Baptist Invitational – the last track and field meet before the indoor championships.

Head Coach of Men and Women’s Track and Field Randy Heath said he planned to use this meet to better prepare his athletes for the National Christian College Athletics Association Indoor Championships in Bourbonnais, Ill., on Feb. 21 and 22.

“We will be doing some different events, and maybe we will rest out of some races and some events in order to do well [in] some others, so it is a part of preparation,” Heath said prior to the meet. “It is a part of getting ready for nationals, but maybe doing different events.”

According to Heath all meets are preparations for nationals, and the Eagles’ goal is to qualify more athletes in the championship.

“Any time we do not have meets, we are just practicing,” Heath said. “A meet stretches a person to do their events better than just practice, so the competition is what it’s all about – being ready to compete. So this just helps us to compete better by doing another meet this late in the season.”

According to Heath, the size of the meet and its proximity to nationals altered what events his athletes competed in.

“This is going to be a very large meet in term of numbers, so that means some of the athletes won’t be able to do some of their normal events, because there are so many people,” Heath said before the meet. “It’s just more teams are going to be there with more athletes and different events, so we will be more selective in what [events] we [compete in].”

Athletes said they used the meet to measure their level of preparation for nationals.

“It’ll kind of just help me gauge how well I think I will do in nationals, so if I don’t run very well this weekend, I don’t know how I will feel going into nationals,” freshman Layne Hammer said before the meet. “But if I do well, then I guess I will have a positive attitude going into it.”

In the end Hammer performed well, earning seventh place in the 1,000-meter with a final time of 3:28.27.

On the men’s side, junior Jamal George took 14th place out of 27 competitors in the 200-meter with a final time of 23.51 –  his best time of the season to date.

“I think I did well; ended the season on a good note, so that’s good,” George said. “… [This meet] kind of just shows you where you are at the end of the season and it just kind of … gives you a … little warm up to what nationals is going to show you.”

Jones qualified in the 5,000-meter, placing 12th with a final time of 19:50.27. Freshman Maci Rich came in 11th out of 23 competitors in the 800-meter overall in 2:28.14. Sophomore Kara Drewke placed 20th in the 400-meter dash with a final time of 1:05.06.

Many athletes have already qualified, but they want to continue breaking their records at nationals.

“I’m a little bit worried about the [championship], just because my time isn’t as good going into it as I would like it to be,” Hammer said. “Also, I think it will be nice having all those girls in the same meet running at the same time as me. I think it’ll be kind of good to pace myself off of them.”

Though the track and field team has 24 athletes qualified for nationals, they will not stop pushing to earn better scores.

“[This meet] gives [athletes] better time or performance to submit,” Heath said. “We can still submit our performance and it might help get them in a better heat or flight once they get there, so there are secondary benefits. They’re already on the list to go [to nationals], it just helps see them out a little better once they get [to nationals] if they can improve this week.”

After nationals the indoor season will be over, putting some added pressure onto the athletes’ performance.

“I feel like it’s going to be a good thing to test us, [and] just to end … our indoor season on,” George said. “And we’ve had a good season thus far, so I think it would be a good national meet.”