After losing the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championship by just half a point last year, the men’s indoor track team will finally get their chance to reclaim the title.

“The guys are excited about hosting the championships here,” head coach Tom Akers said. “We feel it’s time to win it back.”

The Panthers won the OVC title from 1996-98 before finishing second last year to Middle Tennessee State. Middle Tennessee State has since moved into the Sun Belt Conference, leaving Southeast Missouri State, who finished fourth last year, as Eastern’s main competitor at this year’s championship.

“Southeast Missouri State redshirted several of their freshmen last year,” Akers said. “They have a very good team this year.”

SEMO traditionally has strong sprinters, jumpers and throwers, and usually dominates these events. Akers hopes that his deep, well-rounded team will consistently score in all of the events to finish first overall.

“Our men have a chance to win, but Eastern Illinois is the favorite,” SEMO head coach Joey Haines said. “We should win or place high in a lot of events, but Eastern Illinois has the numbers to pile up a lot of points with fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth places.”

Though Akers doesn’t necessarily believe his team is the favorite, he does agree that SEMO and Eastern are the front runners to win the championship.

“The team is physically ready and I’m expecting some great performances,” Akers said. “Right now we’re concentrating on the little things and focusing on mental preparation for this Friday night.”

The championship will start this Friday at 4 p.m. in Lantz Fieldhouse and resume Saturday morning at 11 a.m. The finals for the long jump, high jump, shot put, distance medley relay and the 5000-meter run will held be on Friday, along with the qualifying trials for the rest of the events. The remaining finals will be held on Saturday.

“The key to the meet is qualifying on Friday night,” Akers said. “And getting as many guys into the finals on Friday as we can.

“Hopefully we’ll compete in front of a big crowd this weekend,” Akers said. “Our teams have a history of saving their best for last.”