Eastern head track coach Tom Akers was pleased with his team’s performance in the first meet of the year in the Early Bird Invite on Dec. 8 at Lantz Natatorium.

The men’s team had wins against Butler and Western Illinois, but fell to Indiana State in the dual meet competition.

Akers said it was good to see so many good performances this early in the season.

“We competed well and a number of guys had great performances,” Akers said. “It was very good to see guys compete this well this early in the season.”

Akers said he was very impressed by the freshman relay distance team, which set the school’s freshman event record and won the event.

Freshman distance runners Nick Kuczwara, Chad Aubin, Justin Helpingstine and Derek Ericson finished the race in 10 minutes, 26 seconds.

Akers said he was also impressed by junior runner David Holm, who won the mile (4:16.53), and sophomore Wes Sheldon who won the 1,000-meter in 2:32.37.

Freshman hurdler Preston Smith said the success at the meet has shown their hard work in practice has paid off.

“Overall as a team I think we did pretty well,” Smith said. “We are off to a good start and that has shown where our hard work during practice has really paid off.”

Smith finished sixth in the 400-meter dash in 50.71.

Return from break

The men’s indoor track team does not have the luxury of staying and training during Winter Break, so players are given a recipe for success, according to Akers.

The team began to practice again Friday when the dorms opened, but were given a guideline of workouts to do during break based on the event they participated in.

Some athletes were given specialized workouts if they had suffered an injury or had specific adjustments to be made.

Smith said he stuck to his workout plan during break because he did not want get out of shape.

“Personally the only day I took off was Sunday,” Smith said. “Otherwise I worked out every day. Break is a long time and we don’t want to lose what we had going into it.”

Akers said the beginning of break could be hard for some athletes because of new schedules and having to wake up early again.

Sophomore sprinter Marcus Williams said it is easier to work out at school because it is more structured and there are less distractions.

“It’s much easier to work out at school,” Williams said. “At home you have to train around friends, work and family. At school you know you are training everyday at 3:30 p.m. At home, there is no schedule; you might work out at 6 a.m., noon or at night.”

Akers has said it looks like the team did their work and stayed in shape during break.

“So far, so good,” Akers said. “I think some of our guys are feeling the effects and are a little sore, but that’s normal. They are getting back out and running, lifting weights and putting back on par for course.”

Williams said break is a time to maintain or improve on where they were before break. He said for the most part the team has maintained shape.

“During break it is important to maintain or gain (shape),” Williams said. “It looks so far like the majority of the team has maintained where they were going into break.”

Dan Cusack can be reached 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.