Ten members of Eastern’s track and field team will be competing in the NCAA Regionals at the University of Oregon today through Saturday.

The group is made of eight men and two women.

Head coach Tom Akers said last year there was a larger group competing at the regionals. Akers said the reason for the lower number of women’s members qualifying is because the women’s squad is still very young.

Akers expects his team to “compete at our best ability and execute the way we have been all year long.” If we do that, then we can be successful. We cannot control what the competition does, only how well we perform,” Akers said.

The two Eastern women traveling to the regionals are red-shirt junior Megan Gingerich and junior Bridget Sanchez.

Gingerich, the 2010 OVC female track athlete of the year, qualified in the 800-meter dash. Gingerich holds the school record in the 800-meter with a top time of 2:06.46.

This is her second straight NCAA regional appearance. She finished 16th in the race last year.

Sanchez qualified for the 400-meter dash.

Sanchez’s top 400-meter time of 54.56 seconds is the third best in program history. The Melrose Park native also has top ten all-time Eastern marks in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Two of the eight Eastern men competing at the Regionals qualified in more than one event.

Red-shirt junior Zye Boey qualified in both the 100- and 200-meter dash and is nationally ranked in the two events.

Boey holds school records in both events with a 10.15 second 100-meter time and a 20.67 second 200-meter time.

This is Boey’s third straight NCAA Regional appearance.

Boey placed seventh in the 200-meter dash at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this year. Boey was named the 2011 OVC male track athlete of the year. He also won the award in 2009 and 2010.

Senior Darren Peterson qualified for both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes.

He ranks fourth on Eastern’s all-time list in both events with a top time of 20.83 seconds in the 200-meter dash and a time of 46.96 seconds in the 400-meter dash.

Patterson was named OVC athlete of the championships in 2011 and was named first team All-OVC in the 200- and 400-meter dashes.

This is his second straight NCAA Regional appearance.

OVC freshman of the year Mick Viken qualified in the pole vault and is also nationally ranked in his event.

Viken holds the school and OVC record in the pole vault with a top vault of 17 feet, four and a half inches. The red-shirt freshman from Rolling Meadows has placed no lower than third in any meet he’s competed in this season.

Red-shirt seniors Pat Tortorici and Kris Gehrke will compete in the 400-meter hurdles.

Tortorici won the event at both the OVC Championships and the Twilight Relays at Louisville, Ky. Tortorici was named first team All-OVC. Tortorici is ranked 33rd in the event.

Gehrke just made the cutoff for the NCAA Regionals.Hhe is ranked 48th in the event out of a field of 48.

Junior Tyler Carter qualified in the long jump.

He was named second team All-OVC and his top long jump of 24-feet, eight-and-a-half inches is ninth best in school history.

Two men’s throwers also qualified for the Regional.

Red-shirt junior Donald Romero qualified in the hammer throw.

Romero was named to the All-OVC second team.

His top hammer throw of 193-and-a-half feet is the third-best in Eastern history.

Red-shirt senior Tyler Arnholt qualified in the discus throw to make this his fourth straight Regional appearance. Last year, Arnholt placed 29th in the Regional.

The Mattoon native was named EIU male senior athlete of the year, and his top discus throw of 176-feet, two-inches ranks sixth all time at Eastern.

While the group of ten that Eastern is sending to the Regionals is much smaller than some of the schools represented at the meet, coach Akers does not think it will matter.

“While other bigger schools may not take us as serious as they would if we came from the SEC or Big 12, we probably put the most pressure on ourselves to perform well.,” Akers said. “The schools we have competed against this year are very aware of what our athletes are capable of.”

Joe Long can be reached at 581-7942 or

Zye Boey, red-shirt junior, receives his first place medal for the 60-meter dash Feb. 26 in the Lantz Fieldhouse. Boey competed and placed seventh in the 200-meter dash at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships March 11. (File Photo

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