Track gears up for finals

Team has two meets in preparation

The outdoor track team travelled to a meet at John Carroll University last Friday and then sent about five competitors to the Baldwin-Wallace College Invitational on Saturday. Coach Tom Mulligan described the meets as "tune-ups" for the conference championships that will take place today and tomorrow at Wittenberg University.

"Friday went well," Mulligan said. "It was a tune-up for the championship. We accomplished what we wanted to for the championship. Saturday was the same thing. Both meets were competitive and were against pretty good people. It was not about winning so much as it was about preparing for this weekend."

There were a few notable performances from both the men's and women's teams. Sophomore Steve Jackson won the 100-meter dash and senior Stephen Kim took second. "Mentally it was an 'on' day," Jackson said.

Sophomore David Ellis made his debut after nursing a stress fracture from the indoor season and tied for third in the 200-meter. "He was really sore the next day but it is nice to have him back," sophomore Amie Ely said. Jackson took second in this race.

First-year James Priest ran a personal best in the 400-meter and junior Peter Washington ran his fastest time of the year in the 1500-meter.

Ely sprang 15 feet 9 inches to take first place overall in the long jump. She also ran her best time in the 100-meter to take third.

Junior Trista Thornberry grabbed second in the 800-meter with a 2:23 and led off the 4-by-400-meter relay team that took second. All of these top-finishers are expecting strong performances at the championships.

Also expected to go All-conference is sophomore Gil Saenz. He is currently ranked first in the conference for the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.

The team is really looking forward to the finals. "It should be exciting," Mulligan said. "What we run for every year is the championship. It's always a very special meet because we see people respond or not respond to tournament play. That's the bottom line, seeing how people respond. There's going to be good people in every event and we'll see how they respond."

Mulligan recalled some moments from the indoor championships as an example. "At the indoor meet it came down to Amie Ely and Stephen Kim's last jumps and they came out ten inches than ever before," he said.

"We're definitely psyched" Jackson said. "I plan on doing well. My goal is to get all-conference in the 100 and 200. It's going to be hard but I've worked too hard not to get it."

Mulligan said, "This meet matters more than any other meet matters; this is what we shoot for during the indoor and outdoor season."