The Panthers talked on Friday night about how starting on Saturday the gap would be closing point wise between Eastern and Tennessee State.

Eastern Illinois led after the first day of competition with 38 points. Tennessee State had 29.

Women’s head coach Mary Wallace said they knew Tennessee would score a lot of points in the 200-meter dash.

“There could have been some times especially when we got to some of Tennessee State’s stronger events where the girls could have felt the pressure and folded,” men’s head coach Tom Akers said. “But they got up there and battled and exceeded where we were picked to be in those specific events.”

Akers said Tennessee State is predominately sprint-oriented and are strong anywhere from the 60-meter dash to the 800-meter run.

The Tigerbelles won the 60, 200 and 400-meter dashes, as well as placing first and second in the 800-meter run.

Freshman Erin O’Grady was the only Eastern competitor in the 800-meter run and said she knew she needed to step it up, score some points and not allow Tennessee State to get too far ahead.

“That is what pulled me to go faster,” O’Grady said. “I just kept saying to myself, ‘Points, points. I’ve got to do this for the team. Points, points, points.”

Unexpected contributions

Some athletes did not do as well as expected and some exceeded expectations this weekend, Wallace said.

Sophomore Nicole Walcott in the high jump and O’Grady in the 800-meter were two individuals that did better than they thought they would, she said.

“The high jump and the 800 were our two question marks where we weren’t sure we were going to get any points from those events,” Wallace said. “For those two athletes to come through for us was really important.

Walcott placed second in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 4.25 inches and O’Grady placed sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 20.66 seconds.

“I knew that no matter what, I would get one point, but I didn’t want to get last place, O’Grady said. “I really wanted to help the team.”

Senior Jillian Blondell said she was proud of O’Grady qualifying and placing sixth in the finals.

“She (O’Grady) said all she wanted was a point and I was like, ‘Well, you got three,'” Blondell said.

Rankings affect Arnold

Freshman Kandace Arnold was ranked going into the Ohio Valley Conference Championships to win the shot put and place third in the weight throw.

Arnold placed third in the shot put with a throw of 41 feet, 7.75 inches and sixth in the weight throw (48 feet, 5.5 inches).

Arnold said being ranked so high added to her stress and made her more nervous.

The weight throw ranking was based off a throw in the Early Bird meet at the beginning of December and the shot put ranking came from a throw at the Mega Meet in late January.

“People looked at me like you didn’t do too well,” Arnold said. “They were like, ‘Why, didn’t you throw as good as you were placed?’ I haven’t done that since December so

I couldn’t live up to that because my groove has not been there.”

Arnold said she felt like everyone expected more than what she felt she was capable of.

“I know it sounds kind of kiddish but it messes with my head sometimes,” Arnold said.

Wallace said that Arnold is a great athlete who was named freshman of the year for a reason and still has a lot of time and potential to improve.

What’s next

The women are going to get right back into their normal routine after celebrating their first-ever OVC championship, Akers said.

“Monday’s workout will be light to get the kinks out because the kids put so much effort and emotion into these last few days that it is going to take a couple days to recover,” Akers said.

Winning the indoor conference title made the Panthers more anxious to do it again in outdoor, said sophomore Shawana Smith.

“But we are going to have to come harder in outdoor because the competition is going to be coming harder too,” Smith said. “They are going to fix where they made their mistakes and it is going to be tough all over again.”

Coach Akers said that outdoor and indoor are “two completely different beasts.”

Eastern was at an advantage indoors with having an indoor facility to work out on and competing at home for the meet, Akers said.

Akers said he thinks Eastern will be at a disadvantage in outdoor because they are the northern-most school and will have the worst weather all spring to get training in.

Before the outdoor season starts, two Panthers will have the opportunity to compete in the Last Chance Meets at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., this weekend.

Sophomores Chandra Golden and Smith will get to try to knock some seconds off their times in the 60-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash, Wallace said.

Freshman sprinter Meghan Sprinter runs by during at race at the Eastern sponsored OVC chamioship meet at Lantz fieldhouse on Friday afternoon. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

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Senior high jumper Deb Hasik clears the bar during the Eastern sponsored OVC championship meet on Friday afternoon. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

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