The BG track and field team is heading into its toughest outdoor meet of the season with more rest than usual as they prepare for the All-Ohio meet.
At this point in the season, the team is focusing a little less on training heavily and a little more on truly getting the best performances from each athlete in every event.
“We’ll back off a little this week in preparation for the All-Ohio meet and kind of turn our attention more toward competing in the meets coming up and adjusting the training some at this point,” said coach Cami Wells. “So hopefully they’ll be a little rested.”
Today the Falcons will return to Athens, Ohio for the second consecutive weekend to begin competing in the two-day All-Ohio Championships.
Two differences in this weekend’s meet compared to BG’s first three outdoor meets this season are the types of scoring and the level of competition.
In the past three meets, points were awarded to the top two finishers on each team in every event. This weekend, the top eight placers will be awarded points, regardless for which school they’re competing.
Also this weekend, BG will face the best competition of any meet in the young outdoor season.
With the exception of Toledo, all in-state schools from the Mid-American Conference will be competing today and Saturday. Also, the Falcons will face strong competition from non-MAC schools such as Ashland and Dayton.
“We’re looking forward to stepping up to the challenge of having the best competition we’ve seen to this point this coming weekend,” Wells said. “The competition at the All-Ohio Championships is certainly reflective of the type of competition we’ll see at the conference meet.
“It certainly will be a challenge, and we’ll see where our athletes stack up at this point in time.”
The start of the outdoor season has been promising, but Wells said the team has yet to put together the very best of its potential.
“It’s a positive to have people step up and produce [personal records] this early in the season,” she said.
“We just need to, overall in every event area, have everyone produce what they’re capable of producing. I don’t think we’ve seen that to this point.”
The meet begins today at 2 p.m. with the long jump and hammer throw and resumes Saturday at noon with the shot put and triple jump.