Seniors prepare to wrap up final season at ISU

For 11 senior student-athletes, this weekend will be the last time they will compete at Marks Field as Sycamores.

The meet is set up as an open meet that will not be scored. Because of this, several athletes will look to have season best performances.

“As we are coming down to the end of the season, the guys are looking for seed times or a performance that will get them a spot on the conference roster,” men’s head coach John McNichols said. “It is also senior day on Saturday, and it will be nice to get those seniors some recognition for their service over the past four and five years.”

As the school year comes to an end and seniors move away to pursue other interest, the track season will move into full swing. There will be one more regular season meet at Indiana University the night before commencement May 7, but then the postseason will begin with the Missouri Valley Conference Championships.

The MVC meet will be held on May 14-16 at Illinois State University. At the indoor championships, the women were third and the men fourth.

“I judge the season based off of how we did in the conference meet each season,” McNichols said. “We go to some big meets and some smaller meets, but it is all in preparation of the conference meet.”

After the conference meet, only the athletes who have qualified for the NCAA East region meet will continue to train in hopes of qualifying for the NCAA National Championships.

To qualify for the region meet, an athlete must be in the top 48 on the descending order list.

Currently, the Sycamores have three men in four events: junior Michael Disher in the steeplechase, junior Major Clay in the high jump and sophomore Brandon Pounds in both the shot put and the discus throw.

The women have four athletes and a relay, with senior Erica Moore in the 400-meter hurdles and 800-meter run, senior Kylie Hutson in pole vault, senior Lauren Martin in triple jump and long jump, junior Kelsey Hanley in hammer throw and 4x400 relay with Moore, Martin, freshman Stacia Weatherford and sophomore Kaci Smith.

“The three athletes we have are sitting in good positions to advance to NCAAs,” McNichols said. “At this point I am not satisfied with the group we have going. I feel we can add more people to that list in a wide range of events.”

Those who qualify for the NCAA National meet will look to become All-Americans, and for some Sycamores, it would not be their first time receiving that honor.

Martin has been named to the All-American list three times and Erica Moore twice, but the greatest honors have gone to Hutson, who will be looking to win her fourth straight National Championship in the pole vault.

Hutson won last year’s indoor and outdoor titles and has already won the indoor title this year.

The meet this weekend is set to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.