It was the first day of April and Ohio’s cherry blossoms were blooming. The weather, though, hadn’t matched the trees’ beauty — it was in the mid-40s on Saturday.
The Bobcats didn’t fret about the subpar weather, though. The weather was about the same this time last year.
"Our home meet always has kind of crappy weather," sophomore runner Emily Deering said.
The Bobcats hosted the Ohio Cherry Blossom Invitational, the first home meet they had this season. Ohio competed against Marshall, the University of Charleston and Rio Grande during the meet and won with a score of 95 points.
The team’s best event was perhaps the 1500-meter run, where the top five was composed of Ohio runners. Deering came in first, posting a time of 4:41.18.
Even with the chilly temperatures, the distance runners saw most of the success among the team.
"This is pretty good distance weather," coach Clay Calkins said. "It’s not too cold for them, they’re not getting overheated in the race."
Though the runners took advantage of the ideal running weather, the sprinters adjusted to temperatures that aren’t as ideal. Calkins said the sprinters prefer nicer weather because the risk of injury goes down.
"We tell 'em, 'hey, at least get an hour in today,' " Calkins said. "On a hot day, you can get away with 45 minutes and kind of cheat on your warmup."
The sprinters had to warm up longer, but they didn’t let the cold stop them. Mya Hodge, a junior sprinter, placed first in the 100-meter hurdles and second in the 200-meter dash.
Along with the runners in the 1500-meter, runners in the 5000-meter succeeded as well. The Bobcats made up the top five in that event, too.
The Bobcats had been waiting for this kind of performance — a performance in which the team was well-rounded. The field events didn’t have to shoulder much of the load.
Sure, throwers, including Jordan Porter, Emma Ryan and Gaza Odunaiya, saw success in the shot put, discus and hammer throw. Porter won the shot put, Ryan did the same in the discus; Odunaiya placed first in the hammer throw.
The track events did well, too. And that’s the kind of production the Bobcats want as the team prepares for the warmer meets.
“When we come back in the warmer months, have a little bit of less wind, hopefully people just keep rolling with that momentum,” Deering said.
