Coaches always encourage their athletes to finish strong, but something about how coach Clay Calkins said those words Friday led to one of the Bobcats’ best meets all season.
The Buckeye Tune-up meet was one of the most energy-filled meets the Bobcats have competed in this year. From personal bests to breaking school records and more athletes qualifying for the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championship, the Bobcats have set the tempo for how they want to fare in their final meet in Kent next weekend for the conference championship
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Calkins also credited mother nature for the Bobcats’ solid third place finish out of 15 teams. Ohio State, the host school, won the meet, and Austin Peay finished second.
“The weather really helped,” Calkins said. “We were able to get the jumpers and hurdlers out on the track surface.”
Along with the runners, the throwers were able to practice on their ideal competing surface as well.
Junior Donyelle Brown, who had already qualified for the MAC Championships, earned points for the Bobcats by continuing her pace from last weekend’s school record-breaking performance. Calkins said that she needed to bounce back and she went “above and beyond.”
“It was good to see her rebound,” Calkins said. “This is exactly what we wanted to see from her.”
After throwing a mark of 18.33 meters, she broke not only her personal record, but a school record as well.
Sophomores Caroline Hildebrand and Peyton Adkins also set personal best times on the track. Hildebrand ran the 3,000m in 9:57.48 and Adkins ran the mile race in 5:23.06.
The one thing that can compare to beating a personal best time is getting an invite to the MAC Indoor Championship, and that’s what happened to Hildebrand.
Although Adkins didn’t qualify, she has senior Melissa Thompson to look up to and get advice from on how to drop some time off of her one mile race time.
Freshman Taylor Smith is really getting some exposure early on with a MAC qualifying performance this past weekend, as she set a mark of 1.68m in the high jump.
“She hasn’t been close all season and we knew she was capable of doing so,” Calkins said.
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This article appeared in print under the headline "'Cats set records"
