The men’s track and field team clinched its fifth Ohio Valley Conference Indoor title in six years after the two-day competition wrapped up Saturday in Lantz Fieldhouse.

“We love to compete, and these last few weeks we have been progressing nicely,” head coach Tom Akers said. “The guys really got up for the conference meet.”

Eastern won the meet with 216 points, while Southeast Missouri took second with 111 points and Eastern Kentucky took third with 99 points.

While the fifth trophy may seem like a repetitive feat for the squad, it hasn’t been an easy season for the men’s team.

“If you look at the number of seniors we lost last year, you wouldn’t expect to be winning the title again,” Akers said.

But after individuals started seeing success at the conference meet this weekend, it radiated through the team.

“Once the momentum started flowing, everyone picked up on what their teammates were doing,” Akers said.

Akers also took “Coach of the Year” honors for the men’s team.

“I liked to see some of the athletes work hard and see their success we knew they were capable of,” Akers said.

The two key athletes in the meet were senior sprinter Jarrod Macklin and junior distance runner Kyle O’Brien. Macklin, who was named “Athlete of the Year” for the second consecutive season, had three first-place finishes. Macklin won the 200-meter dash (21.77) and the 400-meter dash (48.33) while running a leg in the winning distance medley relay and the 1600-meter relay teams.

The distance medley, composed of John Sipple, Macklin, Dan Mackey and Macklin also set a fieldhouse record with a time of 10:17.61.

O’Brien was a double winner for the Panthers, taking home two first-place medals in the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs.

“The coaches make nominations for ‘Athlete of the Year’ and I nominated both Jarrod and Kyle,” Akers said. “To double in the 5K and 3K is a tough double to do and both are very deserving of the honor.”

Aside from the distance medley, sophomore Greg Belger set a meet record and Lantz Fieldhouse record with a 7.96 time in the 60-meter hurdles.

“Greg finally broke through in the highs and put a complete race together,” Akers said. “He got his time down under 8 seconds.”

Sophomore Nick Jackson took second place in the pole vault with a jump of 15-foot, 1-inch and also jumped a fifth-place finish of 6-3.25 in the high jump.

“This is Nick’s first year high jumping, and he set a (personal record) in both,” Akers said. “It’s not as glamourous as winning, but we definitely had a good performance there.”

The 800-meter run was dominated by two Eastern athletes, Steve Cross, who finished first in a time of 1:54.73 and teammate Kevin Christian, who took second with a time of 1:54.90.

“Kevin won last year, but Steve led for probably 780 meters,” Akers said. “This year Kevin challenged Steve. Going one-two is not surprising, but it was probably the most competitive event with the athletes coming in together.”

Christian also ran a leg in the winning 1600-meter relay and came back after a bad exchange between the first and second runners to come back and handoff as the lead runner in that lap.

While the majority of the men’s team will make the transition into the outdoor season, a few athletes will travel to the “Last Chance” meet this weekend for a final opportunity to qualify for the Indoor NCAA championships.