Coming off a meet in which they ran in the middle of the pack, the Bobcats have had 12 days to prepare for one final run at the Mid-American Conference Championships Saturday.
Ohio coach Clay Calkins said he is excited to see how his teams will perform in the conference championships, which will take place at Ball State.
“In the MAC, there is a lot of parody at the top of the conference,” Calkins said. “Central Michigan, Toledo, Miami and us are all at the top and looking to do very well and compete for the championship.”
Central Michigan ran well at the Pre-National Invitational and Calkins said he believes the Chippewas will be the team to beat in Saturday’s meet.
For the women’s race, Calkins said he hopes the Bobcats can finish in the top five and be in the mix for the overall victory if all goes well.
The women have three returning runners in the meet this season who placed in the 2010 MAC Championships. Sophomores Melissa Thompson, Juli Accurso and Emily Pifer all placed among the top 40 finishers last season and said they are excited to try and top last year’s performances.
On the men’s side, Calkins has different expectations.
“We definitely have solid tops on our teams with Chase Robinson, Tyler Ames and Noah Howkins,” Calkins said. “However, they are going to have to carry us if we want to do well. I believe in them and hopefully we can do very well.”
Calkins said the men’s field is believed to be weaker than the women’s, which could help the Bobcats level the playing field.
In last year’s meet, the women placed fourth and the men finished in fifth in their respective races.
The women will begin their race at 11 a.m. and the men will begin at noon.
