The Bobcats will host their one and only home meet this weekend, the Cherry Blossom Invitational at Goldsberry Track.
For the first time this season, Ohio won’t need to file into its university bus and travel to a meet.
The Bobcats are hosting the Cherry Blossom Invitational on Saturday at the Goldsberry Track encompassing Pruitt Field.
“It’s exciting, it’s nice to be at home. It’s nice to not have to travel either,” junior Hayley Stegemiller said.
The Bobcats have competed in North Carolina and South Carolina the past two weeks.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="32a2b596-d3de-11e4-8881-f7081b64e973"}}
“It’s definitely mentally hard as well as physically hard because we’re down there for three days, so it kind of takes it out of you,” Stegemiller said about last week’s Winthrop Invitational.
Stegemiller said she does prefer having a meet span multiple days so she can focus on one event at a time, rather than just one day like Saturday’s meet.
And Ohio will be without its top sprinters, freshman Courtney Guiley and sophomore Anna Michael, who are out with hamstring injuries. Coach Clay Calkins said he hopes they will be healthy in time for the All-Ohio Championship in Oxford next weekend.
“It just takes time to overcome those hamstring issues,” Calkins said. “They want to be back just as much as we want them back.”
Because the Bobcats have been hindered by injuries, Calkins hasn’t been able to gauge his team’s performances through the first two meets.
“It’s hard to indicate what we’re truly capable of without all of our top people, so that’s something we haven’t got a good gage on yet, but I think we got a well-rounded team,” Calkins said.
Marshall, West Virginia, Morehead State, Wright State and the Charleston will be in the field of teams competing Saturday.
Marshall has proven to be Ohio’s biggest competition recently. During the indoor season, the Bobcats traveled to Huntington, West Virginia three times.
“We went over there like three times for indoor,” Stegemiller said. “I don’t know personally all the athletes, but seeing them at all the meets too, you kind of know who you run against, so it’s nice to see like a familiar face because you can pace yourself and challenge each other.”
In the past three years, the Bobcats have done particularly well when competing at home.
In 2012, the Bobcats came in second behind Marshall when the meet was known as the Ohio University Women’s Team Challenge. The team finished with six wins in 20 events.
In 2013, the name then changed to the Ohio Team Challenge, a tri-meet between Ohio, Marshall and West Virginia. The Bobcats finished behind Marshall with 107 points to Marshall’s 153.
Last season, the meet adopted the current name of the Cherry Blossom Invitational. The Bobcats recorded a 4-1 win over Marshall, Wright State, Bowling Green and West Virginia.
@TheSideline2016
ly688912@ohio.edu
