CMU looks to improve from last year in MAC Championship


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Greg Cornwell | Staff Photographer Sophomore Tyler Hamilton runs down the backstraight during the men's 800 meter final Saturday at the MAC Indoor Track Championships in the Jack Skoog Indoor Track. Hamilton finished eighth in the race with a time of 1:58.10.

This weekend, the Central Michigan track and field teams will travel to Akron, Ohio for their second scored meet of the indoor track season: The Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships.

The meet is a two-day event beginning Friday at 11 a.m. with the multi-events and preliminary races. Saturday will feature the rest of the events and the finals for the sprint and hurdle events.

Preseason polls had both the men’s and women’s team finishing in fifth place at the MAC Championship. The women will compete against the full field of 12 MAC teams, while the men will competing against Eastern Michigan, Akron, Kent State and Buffalo. Last year, the men finished fifth and the women finished in eighth.

“On the men’s side, if we do a really good job, take care of business, we can be fourth,” said Head Coach Mark Guthrie. “On the women’s side, it’s so tight (between the 12 teams). I’d like to think we have a shot at fourth, but fifth is probably more realistic.”

The only other scored meet CMU has participated in this year was the Eastern Michigan Triangular on Jan. 23 where both the men and women placed second to Eastern, and beat third-place Oakland. At the MAC Championships, the top eight places in the women’s events will score and top six places score in the men’s events.

“You’ve got to do your job,” Guthrie said. “If they (the athletes) are in the meet, we are expecting them to find a way to score.”

Most of this week has been dedicated toward the mental plan for the meet rather than focusing on the physical aspect. Different events require a different mentality and strategy.

“For (all athletes competing on Friday), it’s all about the trials. You’ve got to be great on Friday or there is no Saturday.” Guthrie said. “For the events where there are no trials — the distance events — you have got to run smart. They don’t hand out the awards until the finish line. We do not need to be leading these races at the gun.

With all of the hype and nerves that accompany a championship meet, Guthrie wants to maintain a sense of normalcy for the runners to avoid pre-race jitters.

“(This weekend) is a business trip. That is how we are going to approach it,” Guthrie said. The athletes know what they have to do. We are going there to compete.”

Men ranked in the top five in the MAC:

Senior Cole Walderzak: Second (weight throw)

1600-meter Relay Team: Second

Junior Dylan Banagis: Third (weight throw)

Freshman Jake Peister: Third (triple jump)

Distance Medley Relay Team: Third

Freshman Benjamin Hayes: Fourth (400-meter dash)

Freshman Kevin Weiler: Fourth (shot put)

Senior Nate Ghena: Fifth (5000-meter run)

Junior Tony Armstrong: Fifth (pole vault)

Women ranked in the top five in the MAC:

Senior Devene Brown: Second (shot put)

Junior Kelsey Ross: Third (800-meter run)

Distance Medley Relay Team: Fourth

Freshman Tina Davis: Fourth (60-meter dash)

Sophomore April Micheaux: Fifth (pentathlon)

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