Eastern approaches final stretch

This weekend’s performances by the men’s track and field teams will determine the final roster for the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championship meet next weekend.

While most of the team will be competing at the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville meet, five individuals will travel to the Drake Relays for a more intense competition.

“Drake is one of the premier track meets each year,” head

coach Tom Akers said. “The other one is Penn State, and probably 80 percent of the schools to go these meets. There is just outstanding competition.”

Jason Bialka will compete in the 1500-meter run, returning to competition after his absence from the Pacesetter Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind. last weekend.

“He’s in good shape. He caught a bug that just had him worn out and we weren’t sure how fast he’d spring back,” Akers said. “He’s feeling back to himself again and he’ll do fine in the tough competition.”

Bialka will combine with teammates Dan Mackey, John Sipple and Kevin Atkins for the 4×1500-meter relay.

“The 4×1500 is a strange event,” Akers said. “Sometimes it’s very high quality and sometimes it’s a weaker event. You don’t know until halfway through the race. I’m just looking for some solid efforts.

Jon Bourque will also compete at Drake in the javelin after traveling to the Kansas Relays last weekend for an 11th place finish.

With these five athletes competing in the Drake Relays, the remainder of the team will be facing competition at the SIU-E invite.

“Basically we’re just getting in some good competition prior to the conference championships,” Akers said. “The coaches will use this meet to narrow down the lineup to 28 – right now we have 35 who are ranked in the top eight in the conference, so we’ll have to leave home seven who could place.

“It’s not an easy choice, but it’s one of the good dilemmas we have to have. It’s a last chance for them to make a statement to go to conference.”

While the competition to look forward to at SIU-E is still unknown, Akers is confident there will be teams to challenge Eastern.

“There should be some good competition across the board,” Akers said. “We should have some pretty good performances. We’re just hoping for some good weather and a chance to get some good performances in.”