Ball State women's track and field head coach Sue Parks hopes she has the same success her father, Bob, did on the campus of Eastern Michigan.
Bob Parks amassed more than 30 Mid-American Conference titles during his tenure as head coach of the track and field team at EMU and was honored by the university when officials named its track after him.
This weekend, the Cardinals will compete on the Bob Parks track in Ypsilanti, Mich., for the MAC Championships, hosted by EMU.
"Doing well in the MAC is our main goal. We've always prided ourselves on a team that is ready to compete when the MAC rolls around," Parks said. "Our whole focus all season long has been on this meet."
Sophomore Jill Scully, the team's top distance runner, moved into the third ranking in the conference for the mile run with her time of 4:56.29 at the BSU Triangular, the team's most recent meet.
Scully will also be running in the distance medley relay and the 3,000-meter run. The medley relay is ranked second in the conference, behind Kent State by just under 10 seconds.
"(Jill) has taken her running to another level, and I'm really excited to see her move up against the top distance runners in the conference," Parks said. "She always comes ready to compete."
One setback for the Cards will be lack of experience. The team has 17 freshmen out of the 38 athletes competing in individual events this weekend. Of those 38, only four are seniors.
A freshman standout for the team has been Christina Poulson, who qualified in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Poulson's most recent performance at the BSU Triangular put her in a qualifying position in both the events.
At the Triangular, Poulson took first place in both the 60 and 200 with times of 7.58 and 24.91 seconds, respectively. Her finishes gave her a nomination for last week's MAC Athlete of the Week.
However, BSU will need to rely on more than just its top performers in order to place high in the 13-team field.
"We're going to need really strong contributions from our top people as well as some people who look like they're not in scoring position to get up there and score," Parks said. "We know it is going to be tough this year because we have a very young team. It's going to be difficult to win."
Favorites to win the meet are Eastern Michigan and defending champion Kent State. The event starts at 9:30 a.m. Friday while Saturday's action starts at 11 a.m.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
