The Eastern indoor track and field team will look to keep their hot streak alive as they return to the Lantz Field House for the Friday Night Special. The meet will begin at 2 p.m. and last until about 9:30 p.m.

The meet will not be scored because it is just a warm up for all the teams that will be competing in their conference tournaments the following week. The Panthers will be looking to keep their momentum going and try to carry that same energy with them into next week’s Ohio Valley Conference Championship.

“Getting back on our track and running on a 200-meter surface will help us prepare for next week,” Eastern head coach Tom Akers said.

The meet will be one of the largest of the year, as nearly 500 athletes are set to attend. Schools competing will be Arkansas State, Butler, Illinois State, Indiana State, Illinois, Southern Illinois Carbondale, and other competitors from a collection of schools.

“This is a tune-up for our conference meet,” Akers said. “All the teams coming in here are looking at this the same way. It’s not a head-to-head competition, a week before everyone’s conference championships it’s just preparation. So hopefully, all the teams coming in get what they need out of this meet.”

The Panthers are looking for strong performances from freshman Zye Boey. He ranks seventh nationally in both the 60-meter and the 200-meter dash. Boey smashed the Eastern indoor record in the 60-meter dash last time he ran at Lantz Field House on January 31, with a time of 6.66 seconds.

In the same meet, senior David Holm, who is ranked sixth nationally in the 800-meter run, hit the NCAA provisional mark, winning the 800-meter race with a time of 1:49.60, setting a new Lantz Field House record.

“This will be Holms’ last shot at running the 600-meter indoors so he would really like to go after the school record which is just under 1:20,” Akers said.

This week, the men’s team landed in the 31st position in the national rankings.

On the women’s side, they will be looking for continued success from junior Kandance Arnold, who is currently third on the Eastern all-time list for shot put throw with a distance of 48-3.5 and first in the weight throw at 59-09.75.

Senior Shawana Smith will compete in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash, where she holds two top ten records for Eastern. Junior Chandra Golden will run the 60-meter hurdles where she posted a time of 8.47 seconds.

Next week the Panthers will host the OVC Championship on Feb. 27-28 in Lantz Field House.

Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at 581-7944 or rrshaughnessy@eiu.edu.

Thrower Ryan Bennett practices on Thursday afternoon in Lantz Fieldhouse. The Eastern indoor track team will host the Friday Night Special from 2 to 9 p.m. in Lantz Fieldhouse this weekend. (Erin Matheny/The Daily Eastern News)

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