Track team laces shoes tight

by Jonathan Kane
Staff Writer

“This is the first time we’ve been going into a meet of this magnitude this early in the season since I’ve been here,” Ohio coach Elmore Banton said.

With that statement in mind, the Ohio men’s and women’s track teams travel to Kent State this weekend to compete in the much-anticipated Central Collegiate Championships. The men’s team will represent one of eight Mid-American Conference schools, while the women’s team will represent one of six MAC schools competing in the meet. The meet also features 13 Division I schools from across the Midwest.

Banton said the meet brings the toughest competition the Bobcats will face this year aside from the Mid-American Conference Championships.

Ohio jumper Kyle Sheer said the team should be able to lift its level of play for the meet.

“This meet is obviously going to be a lot tougher than our first two — competition-wise,” Sheer said. “This is really going to tell us where we stand in the MAC.”

The seeding for the meet is based upon results from the Ohio’s last two meets. Both the men’s and women’s teams are coming off wins last week against Duquesne.

Ohio runner Lindsay Nemastil said the posted stats for seeding purposes might not reflect the true story.

“It’s hard to tell where you really stand because a lot of the people have only competed in one or two meets,” Nemastil said. “It’s kind of irrelevant to look at other team scores and stats because it’s so early in the season.”

The women’s team might be slightly underpowered because Ohio’s top hurdler, Melody Royster, suffered a strained back during weightlifting this week. Royster missed some practices, but she is expected to compete.

This is the first time in history the Central College Championships will be held at Kent State University. The meet will run all day Saturday.