This weekend, Ohio men's assistant coach Mitch Bentley and head coach Clay Calkins will be in a similar position, as they await final word on the hip injury of top runner Michael McKean.
"I'm not sure yet," McKean said about running this weekend. "It's looking 50/50."
McKean said he will decide on race day if he is ready to go and his teammates may have their fingers crossed.
At All-Ohio, the lone race that McKean ran this year, he finished fourth overall. His finish is the second-highest individual finish this year and the highest in a race of similar competition to the Mid-American Conference championship.
If McKean can't go, the Bobcats' supporting cast will need to perform like they did at Pre-Nationals, where they recorded multiple personal bests and took 11th.
McKean said being unable to run would be "extremely tough" this weekend and that he could've achieved first-team All-MAC honors had he stayed healthy.
If he can, Calkins said he believes a McKean-led team can finish in the top three this weekend.
Whereas the men are clouded with uncertainty, the women are "more confident than I've ever seen them," assistant coach Tim Sykes said.
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Sykes said he's been working with the women on starting races quickly, and he wants the ladies to use their "free energy."
Sykes said he believes they have "free energy" because of their conditioning in the first 200 to 600 meters. He also said if the women can be a part of that pack at the mile mark, they will be in great shape because "after the mile, historically, the positions do not change a ton."
Sykes said Eastern Michigan and Buffalo pose the biggest challenges to Ohio in its quest for a championship, but it will also have to worry about Central Michigan and Bowling Green, who are ranked just ahead of Ohio in the region.
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