The Charger men’s track team saw the best temperatures they’ve seen so far this season as they competed in the Ball State Invitational this past weekend. With just three meets left until the conference championships, the team saw improvements across multiple events.
“We got some good weather,” Towne said. “Overall I thought it was another solid performance from us.”
Several athletes achieved seasonal bests in their respective events. Senior Daniel Čhapek threw a seasonal best and NCAA provisional mark in the hammer.
“It was the first time we had nice weather,” Čhapek said. “It was about 70 degrees. I did what I usually do in terms of performance. I improved my seasonal best, but most importantly I figured out what I was doing wrong. I need just an extra meet this week to improve to my level from last year.”
Freshman Mark Miller took fourth in the 1500-meter with a college best of 4:02.72.
“Ball State went pretty well,” Miller said. “I took off about a second from my last race, so I was happy with that. Tactically, it was OK. The race was kind of messy in the beginning, but overall it went pretty well.”
Sophomore Ian Brown took seventh in the 110-meter hurdles.
“I did really well,” Brown said. “We were running against Division I athletes, so that’s always fun to get to compete against them. The weather was really great. It was ideal weather for running well for track, so that was helpful.”
As the team nears G-MAC Championships, the coaching staff is emphasizing preparation and rest.
“We have to continue to communicate really well, athletes and coaches,” Towne said. “Even though this is a really strenuous time academically they have to do their part in preparing ahead of time so they can do that. We certainly have to do our part to make sure we’re doing the right things. This is a hard time of year.”
The team will split up this weekend with part of the squad heading to El Camino College in Torrance, California, for the Mt. SAC Relays, and the other group headed to Allendale, Michigan, for the Al Owens Classic at Grand Valley State.
