Members of the Eastern track and field team will have one final opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championship with this weekend’s Alex Wilson NCAA Last Chance Meet.

The Last Chance meet will be at Notre Dame’s Loftus Sports Center in South Bend, Ind. The meet will begin Friday evening and pick up Saturday morning.

The Panthers will be sending a total of 11 team members to the meet, with six representing the men’s side and five representing the women.

Competing for the men’s team will be junior Tyler Carter, senior Darren Patterson, red-shirt freshman Mick Viken, freshman Cody Boarman, red-shirt senior Pat Tortorici, and senior Preston Smith.

Representing the women’s team will be sophomore Abigail Schmitz, sophomore Paige Biehler, junior Bridget Sanchez, red-shirt junior Megan Gingerich and sophomore Erika Ramos.

None of the members competing this weekend have ever previously qualified for the NCAA meet.

Red-shirt junior Zye Boey, who has already qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championship in the 200-meter dash, is the only competing member with experience in the NCAA track championships.

This weekend, Boey will be competing in the Virginia Tech Final Qualifier this Saturday.

Boey is currently ranked in the nation’s top 10 200-meter dash runners, and was named OVC Male Athlete of the Championships for his performance last weekend, where he won both the 60-meter and 200-meter dash.

Red-shirt freshman Mick Viken recorded a personal best 17-feet, 1.50-inch mark in the men’s pole vault event last week. The vault was good enough to break an Eastern and OVC record, but if Viken wants to qualify for the NCAA meet, he will need to clear 18-feet, one-inch. Viken has been listed among the nation’s top 30 pole vault competitors for much of the season.

Junior Tyler Carter is another Panther who has been ranked among the nation’s best this year. Carter’s season best long jump performance came at the Notre Dame Meyo Invite, where he recorded a 7.45-meter jump. Carter will look to improve on his mark, as 7.90-meters will qualify him for the NCAA Indoor Championship.

The women’s team presents a young squad, with no seniors making the trip this weekend. Veterans Megan Gingerich and Bridget Sanchez will look to lead the team.

Gingerich’s top 800-meter time also came at the Notre Dame Meyo Invite, where she ran a 2:10.96 time.

Gingerich will need at time of 2:06.00 to qualify for the NCAA meet.

Sanchez ran her best 200-meter time last week, turning in a time of 24.67 seconds, but will need to run a 23.70 second time this weekend in order to qualify for the national meet.

The NCAA Indoor Championship takes place March 11 and 12 in College Station, Texas.

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

Sprinter Bridget Sanchez competes in the women’s 200 meter run Saturday in Lantz Arena. Sanchez took third place in the event with a time of 25.17 seconds. (Kimberly Foster

(more…)