The track and field team encounters a variety of opponents throughout the season, most of which come from different conferences.

Eastern typically does not face more than two Ohio Valley Conference teams prior to the outdoor conference championships. However, this perceived dilemma should not hurt the Panthers in any way.

Eastern proved that they were the best in the conference in this year’s indoor championships as both the men and women took home the gold. The outdoor conference meet should be no different.

At the indoor championships, the men dominated with 141 points, putting them 21 points over second-place Tennessee State. The women racked up 125 points, beating out Tennessee Tech by 14 points. The men retained the title from last year while the women outed returning champions Tennessee State for their seventh title.

Eastern will see OVC action for the first time at the Illinois Twilight meet as Southeast Missouri will be competing. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville will be the Panthers’ final regular season OVC face-off before the championships. They will face the Cougars at the Indiana Bill Hayes meet.

Southeast Missouri

The Redhawks have competed in just four meets so far this season and will have completed nine by the time Eastern meets them.

At their most recent meet, SEMO had multiple top-10 finishes but none of them were higher than third place. However, there were three athletes that posted a personal best or a season best.

McKenna Baker had a season-high shot put toss that measured 42’3.25”. Senior Bryn Buckwalter holds Eastern’s top throw of the season at 46’06”.

Natalie Kopplin clocked in a personal-best time in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4 minutes, 50.7 seconds. Senior Kristen Paris posted Eastern’s best race time at the home opener at 4:38.42.

Georgia Tomilson added a personal-best time in the 400-meter dash as well with at time of 59.34 seconds. Junior Stephanie Dominguez ran the season’s fastest race in 59.07 seconds.

SIU-Edwardsville

The Cougars recently won their latest meet, a home stint in which the men earned 80 points and the women scored 65. Much like SEMO, Edwardsville athletes reached personal bests and broke school records.

Nichyria Byrd broke her own school record in the long jump with a leap of 19’8.5”. Senior Angelica Anyaogu posted the Panthers’ furthest jump at the Illinois State meet after clearing 18’10.75”.

Haley Miller boasted two personal records in the 1,500-meter run and the 3,000-meter race. Claire Nolan shattered her previous personal best hammer throw with a toss of 161’11”. Buckwalter also has the Panthers’ top throw at 173’05”.

Alec Dutton also earned a personal-best hammer throw with a toss of 187’8”. Freshman Nick Phillips holds Eastern’s best throw at 175’08.5”.

Dalton Oakes also earned a PR in two events: the 110-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles. Senior John Piper is Eastern’s fastest 400-meter hurdler with a time of 57.01 seconds which is 0.25 seconds faster than Oakes’ personal best.

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