The Eastern track and field team will hit the road for the final time of the indoor season this weekend, as it travels to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic.

The Panthers will get a break from taking on Big Ten competition, as the Iowa Classic will feature some top talent from the Big 12 Conference. Competing at the meet along with the host Iowa State will be Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri, along with Iowa, Drake and Northern Iowa. Also representing the SEC will be Florida and Auburn.

The Panthers will get a chance to prove that the team deserves its newly acquired No. 7 Midwest Regional ranking. The Panthers currently sit atop Kansas State and Iowa State in the rankings, but Big Ten power Iowa is the No. 3 team.

The Hawkeyes currently have male athletes nationally ranked in the 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash, 800-meter run, 60-meter hurdles, 4×400-meter relay, and triple jump. On the women’s side, the Hawkeyes have athletes ranked in the 1-mile run and 4×400 meter relay.

Perhaps the toughest competition the Panthers and the rest of the field will face will be the visitors from the SEC. The Florida Gators enter the meet as the No. 1 team in the South Region. The Gators have a total of 31 ranked male competitors in a wide variety of events. The Gators also enter the meet on the women’s side with 29 ranked athletes and are the No. 3 team in the South Region.

The Auburn Tigers enter the event as the No. 8 men’s team and No. 3 women’s team in the South Region. Both squads have climbed higher in the rankings since last week’s poll.

Two Panthers who will not be making the trip to the Iowa State Classic are red-shirt juniors Zye Boey and Megan Gingerich. Boey and Gingerich were both invited to compete in the Tyson Invitational held at the University of Arkansas. Boey is nationally ranked in both the 60-meter and 200-meter dash and has already qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championship. Both Boey and Gingerich broke school records at last week’s Notre Dame Meyo Invite.

Gingerich said the Notre Dame meet is usually a bump in the road for the team, but said the team worked well through it.

Boey said despite breaking his own record and already qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships, there is still work to in preparation for the NCAA Indoor Championship.

With the NCAA Indoor Championship also taking place in Fayetteville, Ark., Boey will use the Tyson Invitational as a preview of the same course he will run next month.

Sophomore Marek Niit of the host Razorbacks will enter the Tyson Invitational as the No. 16 ranked runner in the men’s 200-meter dash. Boey enters as the No. 7 ranked runner.

After this weekend’s events, the Panthers will return home for the EIU Friday Night Special Feb. 18.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7944 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu

Jill MacEachen, a sophomore jumper/hurdler, hangs midair during a jump Jan. 22 at the EIU Mega Meet in the Lantz Fieldhouse. (Danny Damiani

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