CMU Heads To MAC Indoor Championships
2/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | MTF
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
AKRON, Ohio - In track and field, everything comes down to one competition.
You do well in it, you've made your season. You don't? It's back to work and you look ahead to the outdoor season.
The Mid-American Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships are scheduled for Stile Athletics Field House on the campus of the University of Akron Friday and Saturday.
"You can be really good in football and basketball at 90, 95 percent," CMU Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Mark Guthrie said. "You can't in track. You've got to be 99, 100 percent to be truly great.
"If you look at what great performances are and you take 10 percent off that, they're bad performances. I mean bad. That's the nature of the sport. You've got to be on on the day that matters most. That separates everything."
The Chippewa women finished eighth last season, while the men were fifth. Five teams comprise the men's competition, 12 the women's.
In 2014, Guthrie's first season at the helm of the program, the Chippewa women finished fifth. The men have been third in each of the past three seasons, but have steadily increased their annual point total, closing the gap from fourth to fifth from 34 points in 2014 to nine last year.
"My goal when I got here, in sitting back and looking at the whole lay of the land, was to be try and be battling for the top couple (of spots) in year four or five," Guthrie said. "We're battling for four right now.
"If the men really do a good job, take care of business, we can be fourth. On the women's side, it's so tight. I'd like to think we have a shot at fourth; fifth is probably more realistic. But fifth could slide all the way to seventh because fifth to seventh is only about eight points."
Among CMU's best hopes to finish near or at the top of their respective events are throwers Cole Walderzak, Dylan Banagis and Devene Brown; Benjamin Hayes in the men's 400-meter dash; distance runners Silas DeKalita, Nate Ghena and Kelsey Ross; and the men's 1,600 relay and the women's distance medley relay.
Guthrie said a critical factor for the student-athletes is not giving up ground and living up to their seed. And, hopefully, exceeding them.
"They have to hold their positions in this one," he said. "It's not just about you. Here, you have a bad day it's a bad day for everybody. You're letting the team down now. You've got to do your job. If you're in a position to score, you've got to hold that.
"We have a lot of people who can score, but you've got to get the big points."
Players Mentioned
