Looking at the Eastern men’s track and field team’s ninth place finish at 2005 McDonald’s Invitational this past weekend at Southern Illinois, one might assume that the team’s performance had fallen short.

But to head coach Tom Akers, there is a much larger picture that has yet to be revealed.

That picture would be improving individual performances and aiming for a fifth-straight Ohio Valley Conference championship.

“We went into this meet looking at individual performances,” Akers said. “A lot of events we didn’t even have people competing in.”

Some of the athletes may have been slightly taken out of their element at the meet because they were competing in events that they do not normally participate in, Akers said.

“We moved people around a little bit so they don’t get stale,” he said.

Akers said he was pleased with the efforts from Erik Werden, who ran the mile in four minutes and 20 seconds, freshman Chris Wesson, who ran the 400 meter dash in 51 seconds, and junior Dan Strackeljahn, who ran the mile with a time of 4minutes 13 seconds.

Strackeljahn said he was dissatisfied with the intensity of the race.

“There’s some pretty good guys in the mile out there,” Strackeljahn said. “I wish the race had gone a little faster.”

Unlike sprinting, which requires making a good start when coming out of the blocks and making a good, strong finish across the line, long distance requires extreme mental focus and a good game plan, which Strackeljahn said he executed.

“Pretty much the game plan was to get out to a quick pace in the first 400 and hold it for the rest of the mile,” Strackeljahn said.

Strackeljahn’s long-term plans seem to be as solid, as he said his goal is to run the mile at a quicker pace.

“By the end of the season I want to be under 4:05 so hopefully I’ll run a 4:04 or less,” Strackeljahn said.

He said the upcoming meet at Iowa State University might help him achieve his goal.

“This weekend at Iowa State I’ll see some pretty good competition, so hopefully it will be a pretty fast mile,” he said.

The indoor season has just over a month left.

The Panthers head to the Tyson Invitational Friday before competing in the OVC Indoor Championships on Feb. 25-26, which Eastern will host at Lantz Fieldhouse.