Track and field in Ann Arbor for final tuneup before MACs

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Central Michigan track and field teams are in Ann Arbor today and Saturday for the University of Michigan’s Len Paddock Invitational, the final meet for the men and women before next weekend’s Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships.

CMU will be sending a select a group of pole vaulters and jumpers to U-M, but CMU track and field director Willie Randolph had not made a decision as to who would go earlier in the week.

“This meet is for those select few who need that last little piece of mental work to get things done,” Randolph said. “(It’s) basically important for the factor of what is going to be happening the week after.”

Those who aren’t competing this weekend are taking the week to recover from not only last weekend’s events but from final exams.

“We’re going to have a pretty strong training week, but it’s going to end up on the total volume by the time we get to Thursday,” Randolph said. “So we are going to be resting and recovering and getting our bodies ready to go on the last workout we have on Monday.”

As far as standings go, not much has changed from indoor to outdoor season. Eastern Michigan is the returning champions from indoor season and the Eagles are still strong with the extra events, but CMU has excelled in many of the new events that come with the outdoor season.

“We definitely got stronger from indoor to outdoor season,” Randolph said. “It’s about the same teams in contention as indoor – it’s about how many more events are getting covered and who is doing them really well. That is going to be the difference.”