A total of eight members of the Eastern track and field team will compete at NCAA Last Chance Meets, one of which starts at 4:30 p.m. today at North Central College in Naperville. The other meet will take place Friday and Saturday at Notre Dame.

For Thursday, red-shirt pole vaulters Mick Viken and Jade Riebold will represent the Panthers. Both are coming off of first-place finishes at last weekend’s Ohio Valley Conference Championship.

To qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, Viken will need to reach at least 5.50-meters (18-feet, 0.53-inches), while Riebold will need to vault at least 4.35-meters (14-feet, 3.25-inches). So far this season, Viken’s best vault came at the EIU Friday Night Special, when he reached 17-feet, 0.25-inches. Riebold’s season-best also came at the EIU Fright Night Special, where she vaulted 13-feet, 6.5-inches. Both of those marks rank at the top of the OVC ranks.

The remaining six members of the team will compete at Notre Dame. Red-shirt senior Zye Boey will compete in both the men’s 60-meter and 200-meter dashes, while junior Graham Morris will compete in the men’s 3,000-meter run, red-shirt senior Megan Gingerich and junior Erika Ramos will compete in the women’s 800-meter run.

In field events, junior Bryce Hogan will compete in the long jump, while senior Donald Romero will compete in the weight throw.

To qualify for NCAA Indoor Championship in the 60-meter dash, Boey must finish in at least 6.60 seconds, while to compete in the 200-meter dash, he must finish in at least 20.73 seconds. This season, Boey’s top 60-meter time is 6.71 seconds, while his top 200-meter dash time is 21.07 seconds.

Boey said he is close to making it to the national meet but wants to improve his time this weekend to put him higher up on the list. Currently, Boey is the No. 17 200-meter dash runner in the nation. He was the only member of the Panthers to qualify for the national meet last season.

“I’m on the borderline to make nationals,” Boey said. “I want to go this weekend and push a faster time.”

Morris will need to finish in at least 7:52.30 to qualify for the national meet. Currently, Morris’ best time of the season is 8:24.56.

For Gingerich and Ramos, they will each need to finish in at least 2:04.50. So far this season, Gingerich’s best time has been 2:09.53, while Ramos’ best time was 2:10.63.

Gingerich said her senior season has not exactly been what she had hoped, but she hopes to change that this weekend.

“I’m not exactly where I wanted to be, as far as my 800,” she said. “I would like to hopefully be a little faster when I run the Last Chance Meet. I know I still have some work to do.”

The meet will be the last for the Panthers this season. If anyone from the team makes it to the NCAA Indoor National meet, they will compete on March 9 in Boise, Idaho.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].