With the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships approaching, 12 Midwest track and field teams are gearing up to prove they are the best in the OVC.

The Eastern men will strive for their 17th conference title while the women intend to up their second place finish from last year’s meet. A total of 12 women’s teams and seven men’s teams will compete Friday and Saturday, according to the OVC website.

Austin Peay

The Governors’ strong suit this season for the women has been their field events. In their most recent meet at the Ohio State University Tune-up event, Savannah Amato won the pole vault with a 3.86-meter mark followed by Dascha Hit who took third place after clearing 3.71-meters. Back in late January, the Governors had a dominating field performance at the Thunder Herd Invitational in West Virginia. Kaylnn Pitts crushed the triple jump after winning the event by a decisive five inches at 12.42 meters. Eastern junior Brion Portis holds the Panther’s top triple-jump performance this season at 12.13 meters.

Belmont

The Bruins’ men’s team recently broke and tied several school and personal records on at their last meet of the season. Nathan Namour tied Belmont’s 200-meter dash school record with a time of 22.21 seconds while the distance medley team earned a new school record finishing in 10 minutes, 1.31 seconds. Ben Weisel and Matt Blivin placed within the top 10 in the mile, Weisel placing fourth with a time of 4:10.58 and Blivin finishing eighth (4:12.88). Eastern’s top mile runner is senior Riley McInerney who provided the Panthers’ best race time at 4:05.81.

Eastern Kentucky

Haley Yost has made waves in the women’s mile this season. Yost was recently honored as an OVC Co-Athlete of the Week on Feb. 15 for her personal-best performance at the Iowa State Classic. She covered a mile in 4:49.17, earning EKU’s fifth overall school record slot and missing the school’s fastest time by just 3.67 seconds. At last year’s conference meet, Yost finished in 4:57.8. Eastern senior Julie James current holds the season’s top mile time at 4:56.55.

Jacksonville State

Courtney Bennett has led the JSU women as the team’s top shot putter and weight thrower. Bennett broke two school records this season after a personal best shot put throw of 49’6.5”. She also broke her own school record in the weight throw that same day after tossing a second-place distance of 57’11”. The Panthers’ senior Bryn Buckwalter is the women’s top shot putter and thrower. Buckwalter and Bennett are neck-and-neck in the weight throw as Buckwalter holds the Panthers season-high performance at 57’11.25”.

Morehead State

The Eagles have just three meets under their belts as they head into the conference competition. The 400-meter dash has been Morehead State’s strongest event, as they’ve individually placed as high as seventh and ran as fast as 1:02.09. The women’s team will be the only team from Morehead State to compete at the conference meet, and the Eagles have only competed in the 400-meter dash, mile run, 800-meter run, 3,000-meter run and the 5,000-meter run this season.

Murray State

The Racer women have already proven that they can handle the likes of OVC opponents such as Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State as they coasted past their opponents to earn the top two spots in the 200-meter dash in their most recent meet at Marshall. Tamdra Lawrence dominated the race, coming in first with a time of 24.34 while teammate Norma Abdur-Rafia finished at the same time but took second. Senior Anita Saffa holds the top 200-meter time for Eastern at 25.05 seconds.

Southeast Missouri

David Plunkett was SEMO’s best 800-meter runner at their final meet of the season. Plunkett took second with a time of 2:00.79. All three of Eastern’s top three 800-meter runners have recorded times less than two minutes with the top time being 1:53.93.

SIUE

Southern Illinois’ Claire Nolan was recently named the Prairie Farms athlete of the week for her academics as well as her stellar shot put and weight throw performances. Nolan holds the team’s highest marks this season at 46 feet in the shot put and 50’0.75”. Nolan needs to clear a little over three feet to match Buckwalter’s best shot put throw this season but easily beats the second and third top marks in the event for Eastern. Weight throw should be no problem for the Panthers as their third best mark on the season lands at 53’10.25”.

Tennessee State

Returning champs for the women’s side, the Tigers will look to snag the title yet again. On the roster is senior All-American Amber Hughes. At the Tiger’s most recent meet, Hughes took third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.24 seconds. Her time ties her for 23rd in the nation for the event. She also placed sixth in long jump a mark of 6.16 meters. Junior Darneisha Spann clocked the Panthers fastest 60-meter hurdle time at 8.59 seconds this season.

Tennessee Tech

Lisa Wickham was a dominating athlete in the Golden Eagle’s most recent competition at Notre Dame. She ran the 60-meter dash in a school-record setting time of 7.52 seconds. Wickham took first over competitors from Notre Dame and Loyola. Eastern’s fastest 60-meter dash time narrowly misses Wickham’s by .04 seconds.

Tennessee- Martin

The Skyhawks had their first dose of OVC action at the John Craft Invite early in the season, and they were pretty successful there. The men took control of the 3,000-meter run early on. Freshman Edwin Kugrat set a school record for UT Martin at the invite at 8:43.99.

Kaitlin Cordes can be reached at 581-2812 or krcordes@eiu.edu