Ready to win and move on to nationals, 13 Eastern athletes will begin competing in this year’s NCAA Track Regionals today.

In previous years, the NCAA Regionals were split into four sites, but this year they have combined regions so that now there are only two sites. The team will compete today through Saturday in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas in the West Regionals.

Eastern head coach Tom Akers said they will be competing against teams from all over the nation and at least half of the top teams in the nation will be included in the West Regionals. Changes have been made to the athletes’ practices in preparation for the regionals.

Brenton Emanuel, who works with the sprinters, said the team has been working on improving quick starts. Emanuel said now it’s all about sharpening the mechanical things such as block starts and running forms.

“We keep them quick and in shape (preparing) them to bust out again at regionals,” he said.

According to Akers, the athletes do a lesser volume of work but still have a few intense bouts of training.

“Generally they get more rest and don’t have to do as much work,” he said. “Workouts have been going very well. I’m real happy with the way things are going.”

Emanuel said, “We teach (the athletes) not to set a time out there. Just go out there, run and perform your best. That’s all you can ask for.”

A few of the athletes going to regionals will see this as their last competition.

The coaches agree the seniors will want to end their season with a bang.

“The nice part about track and field, or maybe the worst part about track and field is you’ve got to perform on the day if you want to continue to move on,” Akers said.

Senior thrower Kandace Arnold is entered into the shot put and discus competitions at regionals. At the Ohio Valley Conference Arnold won the shot put and set an OVC record.

She also won the discus with a throw that was seven feet better than her previous record.

“She’s a person that performs better with competition. As the competition gets better she gets better,” Emanuel said.

Darren Patterson, a junior sprinter, has continued to improve as well. He has dropped his first 400 time from 47.9 to 46.96 and his 200 time has dropped from 21.6 to 21.2.

“My goal (for the regionals) is to run my best,” Patterson said. “(The 400 is) the event I dislike the most, so in a realistic sense, I just want to better my time, contribute to the team and hopefully bring some momentum our way. If that consists of me making it to nationals I’ll be extremely happy about that.”

Julia Carlucci can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmcarlucci@eiu.edu.