Track team competes at Grand Valley Big Meet

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The CMU men’s and women’s track and field teams return to action this weekend at the Grand Valley Big Meet after a weekend off.

Both teams come into the week ranked in the top 15 of the Great Lakes Region in Tuesday’s United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association’s rankings.

“It means a lot, and it’s something we’re going to build on,” said coach Willie Randolph. “It’s exciting but, at the same time, we’re concerned about the rankings at the end of the year.”

Senior Marcus Breidinger is fourth in the region in the pole vault and junior Marcus Calvert is ninth in the shot put.

For the women, Erika Schroll is third in the region in the high jump, Cara Dukes is eighth in the 400-meter run and juniors Jordan Dunn is eighth in the 60-meter dash and Shanaye Carr is eighth in the 60-meter hurdles.

Randolph said this meet is like a mini-Mid-American Conference Championship for his team.

“There will be 1,700 athletes competing at the meet,” Randolph said. “It is by far our most competitive meet of the year. We look forward to the challenge.”

CMU, which will go into its final road meet before the MAC Championships, took last weekend off as an opportunity to refocus and get ready for the next few weeks.

“We focused on different points of our training cycle,” Randolph said. “We’re getting ready for our most important final cycle.”

CMU faces several teams this weekend it has not faced this season. Michigan State, Florida International, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky are among the unfamiliar teams. Randolph said he expects some of the biggest competition from Western Kentucky.

Out of the Sun Belt Conference, WKU boasts 12 consecutive conference championships for its women’s track and cross country program, the longest active streak in the nation. Other teams competing are Michigan and MAC conference opponents Toledo and Western Michigan.

Randolph said his coaches have moved athletes around the past few weeks to prepare for the MAC Championships later this month.