The Eastern men’s and women’s track and field teams will look to defend their coveted Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships.

The Panther men and women’s teams have taken home the title the last two years. Eight of the OVC’s 11 total teams will be competing in the two-day event at Lantz Fieldhouse. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Tennessee-Martin and Morehead State will not be competing in the meet. In addition, Austin Peay, Jacksonville State, Murray State and Tennessee Tech will only be fielding women’s teams in the event.

The Panthers will enter the meet as the favorites. Having won the title the past two years and having home field advantage, the Panthers also have the most athletes, men and women combined, ranked No. 1 in their respective events than any other team in the OVC. Eastern leads the count with a total of 12, with Eastern Kentucky having the second most at seven.

On the men’s side, the Panthers own perhaps two of the most valuable athletes in the entire conference. Red-shirt junior Zye Boey and red-shirt freshman Mick Viken were named OVC Male Track Athlete of the Year and OVC Male Field Athlete of the Year. Boey has already qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, while Viken has already tied the university’s pole vault record in his first year as a Panther.

The women’s side features two other valuable athletes in red-shirt junior Megan Gingerich and sophomore Abigail Schmitz. Gingerich is the OVC’s top 800-meter runner, while Schmitz is the No. 1 pole vaulter.

After last week’s performance at Lantz Fieldhouse, the Panthers should be confident about their chances this week. Sophomore Dominique Hall said last week’s successful meet gave the team confidence coming in this week.

“It’s important to know you can compete at the level you want to compete at,” Hall said.

Though the favorites, the Panthers know they still have competition.

“I think year in and year out its been Southeast Missouri, as well as Eastern Kentucky as far as the men’s side is concerned,” said head coach Tom Akers.

On the women’s side, Akers said he considers Southeast Missouri and Eastern Kentucky just as big of threats, along with Jacksonville State. Jacksonville State currently has a total of three athletes, men and women combined, who sit atop the OVC standings in their respective events.

The Panthers enter the OVC Indoor Championship with the only team other than Eastern Kentucky to have an athlete ranked among the NCAA’s best. Boey, Viken and junior Tyler Carter are all nationally ranked in their respective events. Eastern Kentucky’s Soufiane Bouchikhi ranks in the NCAA’s top 3,000-meter runners. Bouchikhi, a sophomore from Belgium, also won the OVC cross-country championship last semester.

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