Approaching his first meet against outside competition, men's track and field head coach Jermaine Jones is not too worried about any team but his own.
"I worry about my team, because I can't really control what other teams do," Jones said. "I have an idea of what I expect in each event from people, and as long as they do that, I don't concern myself with the other teams."
Ball State begins its indoor season Saturday, traveling to West Lafayette for the Purdue Open. Team members have been training individually over Winter Break in compliance with specific daily workouts laid out by the coaching staff.
"We had some strict things to do over the break, but I think we're ready to run this weekend," said sophomore Kyle Hinkelman, who will participate in the 3,000-meter run Saturday.
The team has since returned to practice as a group, which Jones feels is a much better environment for the athletes.
"It's hard to get that same practice atmosphere and that same practice level when all of your teammates aren't around you, but we definitely expect them to do the workouts we give them," Jones said.
Because of abundance in the returning classes, Jones believes the throwers will be a strong suit for the team. However, an aspect he is unsure of is the distance-medley relay team.
"I need to figure out who is going to run the 1,200 and 1,600 in the distance-medley relay because right now we're looking for a middle-distance runner," Jones said.
The 4x400 meter relay team, 800-meter run and mile run are also questions left to be answered by the indoor season as it progresses.
"We're going to interchange until we can figure out which four guys work best for us in the 4x400 relay," Jones said. "We're kind of playing with our 800 and mile to find out who is going to be our No. 1 guy in that area."
The non-scored meet begins at 10 a.m. this Saturday, hosted by Purdue in West Lafayette.
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