Coming off a weekend with two competitions and several season bests, the Bobcats are ready to head into their first home meet of the season, competing in the annual team challenge and distance open.
Although the name ‘team challenge’ might hint that the Bobcats compete against several teams, the only team traveling to Athens is Marshall. With Shawnee State not accepting Ohio’s invitation, the challenge was transformed into a simple dual meet.
“It’s a low key meet,” Ohio coach Clay Calkins said, adding that the focus lies on the All-Ohio Outdoor Championships next weekend.
The shift in Ohio’s focus leads to a shift in the Bobcats’ lineup as athletes will not compete in their usual events but rather be tested in unknown, shorter terrain.
“The 800-meter runners will run a 400 and the 5,000-meter (runners) will run a mile,” Calkins said. “We are going to drop the distance but increase the speed.”
Furthermore, long distance races such as the 10,000-meter and the 5,000-meter are replaced by an unusual 3000-meter race.
Some Bobcats, however, will not participate in the unusual dual-meet this weekend, as Calkins wants to give them a break.
“Our top athletes will be sitting out,” he said. “We’ll strategically pull those people and just get ready for the All-Ohio championships.”
That being said, it is probable that the junior duo Juli Accurso and Melissa Thompson will sit out after competing in the 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter, respectively, in the Stanford Invitational last weekend.
Other athletes will have to step up to win the dual meet against a Thundering Herd team that won the team challenge by 24 points against the Bobcats last year. Marshall has performed better than the Bobcats in sprints, as the Herd ran a new 4 x 100 meter school record three weeks ago in a time of 45.97 seconds. The season best for the Bobcats is at 50.58 seconds.
Calkins knows that his sprinting squad still has room to improve.
“We always need to improve in the sprints,” he said. “The sprinters are working hard this time of the year. Hopefully with the hard work they have been putting in, their marks are coming down. They have already, but they all want more.”
am794811@ohiou.edu
