With the Mid-American Conference Championships underway, Ohio had 10 athletes compete in seven events on Thursday. But so far, only one Bobcat has locked in points for the team, with two more scores pending.
Ohio sits in ninth place out of 12 teams with five points. Kent State and Toledo are tied for the lead with 22 points apiece.
Sophomore Emily Pifer scored the only points of the day for the Bobcats with her fourth-place finish in the 10,000-meter race with the time of 34 minutes, 55.33 seconds. Freshman Morgan Reichert ran with Pifer and placed 11th.
“We just need to keep getting people in the finals of their events, because to get points, you have to be in the top eight,” coach Clay Calkins said.
Freshman Chanda Cuckler and senior Brittany Tyree are competing in the heptathlon, among other events. After four of the seven events in the heptathlon — the high jump, 100-meter hurdles, shot put and 200-meter dash — the two are back-to-back with Tyree in eighth and Cuckler in ninth overall. Their best event so far is the high jump, with Tyree tying for second and Cuckler taking fifth.
Tyree gained personal-best records in three of her four events, while Cuckler hit two personal bests as well.
Three Bobcats — freshman Donyelle Brown, junior Kristen Mason and sophomore Alexa Macri — placed in the top 20 for the hammer throw. Brown led the pack in ninth but just missed earning points for her team.
In other throws, senior Hope McCarty, Macri and sophomore Olivia Vitou took ninth, 11th and 12th in the javelin.
“Both the hammer and javelin throws were heartbreakers because Brown and Vitou made it to the finals but just missed points in the end,” Calkins said.
Kicking off at 11 a.m., Friday’s events include more field, decathlon and heptathlon events along with sprint and mid-distance preliminaries and the 3,000-meter steeplechase finals. The team is looking for improvements before the MAC Championships conclude Saturday.
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