Men, women going separate ways this weekend
Members of the Central Michigan women’s track and field team will be going their separate ways this week as director of track and field Willie Randolph is sending his team to three different meets.
The jumpers will be going to Bowling Green, Ohio, the throwers will be going to Saginaw Valley State, and distance runners senior Raeanne Lohner and sophomore Maddie Ribbant will be going to Indiana University for a three kilometer and five kilometer. The sprinters and hurdlers will be off this week, but sophomore Tamica Harbour will be running.
So why are the jumpers going to Bowling Green? Well, they have to prepare for Bowling Green’s turf field events. For the long jump, high jump and pole vault the Chippewas will be competing on turf instead of the regular track surface they are used to competing on.
“Putting up points there is not the point, it’s learning how to compete on that facility,” Randolph said.
Track and field is much different than other sports. In other competitions, you record wins and losses with clear standings with every game changing implications within the conference. With track and field every meet isn’t necessarily looking for first place finishes but rather looking to improve on times until MAC championships, where it really matters.
“We are trying to make sure we’re all staying in the same mindset,” Randolph said. “Looking down the road it’s not what you do today but what you do on the day it counts. You can be No. 10 in the MAC listings but if you put it together and stay focused you can be No. 1, but right now we’re stressing to stay focused.”
Men
Like the women, the men will also send athletes to different meets this weekend.
The strong group of throwers, led by senior John Calvert, juniors Kevin Mays and Ryan McCullough, and sophomore Alex Rose will look to continue their strong start when they compete in the Cardinal Invite today hosted by Saginaw Valley State. Athletes who compete in the sprinting and hurdling events will be off this weekend.
The most significant meet of the weekend is the Tom Wright Classic, hosted by Bowling Green, where CMU jumpers and pole vaulters will be.
Leading the Chippewas into the Tom Wright Classic is junior long jumper Kevin Bacon, who won at the Simmons-Harvery Invite last weekend with a jump of 23 feet.
High jumpers Andy Kruskamp and Jacob McDonald will also look to improve from last weekend’s second place finishes.
Also looking to improve his mark is junior pole vaulter Joey Jankowski, who cleared a season best 15 feet, 1 inch feet last weekend.
“This meet is very important for me personally,” Jankowski said. “It gives me a chance to scope out the track and get a feel for it, I know some other teams won’t even bother going to Bowling Green, so I look at that as a big advantage.”
As the calendar nears February, the pressure to improve scores is increasing and with that Randolph is stressing focus to his athletes.
“It’s that time of year where the intensity level needs to go up,” Randolph said. “Everyone’s feeling the pressure now.”
