After traveling thousands of miles to compete during the last month, the Bobcats will have only a short walk to their tournament this weekend.
The Ohio Women’s Team Challenge and Men’s Distance Open will take place at Goldsberry Track starting at noon Saturday. At its home tournament, Ohio will compete against Marshall University and Shawnee State University.
“It’s a small, lower-key meet,” coach Clay Calkins said. “We’ve come off a series of large meets, so it’s nice to have a home meet.”
For more than 20 years the Bobcats have hosted a home meet around this time of the outdoor season.
Last year Ohio took third place behind Bowling Green and Toledo while beating out Marshall and Tiffin.
Calkins said he is looking for better marks than not only what the Bobcats produced last year, but also from last weekend in the Carolinas.
After last weekend’s competition in Raleigh, N.C., Ohio throws coach Nick Pero said the performances were not exactly what the team was hoping for.
Ohio hopes to repeat its performance from 2010 when the squad rode five first-place finishes to take top honors in its home competition.
There is only one more meet after this weekend before the All-Ohio Championships at Miami University, where only the top athletes in the state will compete.
Having not competed in Ohio since late February, the Bobcats’ next four competitions will take place in Ohio and the team will not have to leave the Midwest until the NCAA East Regional in late May.
The Bobcats had previously traveled to Idaho, Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina during the last month.
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