As the weather heats up, head coach Jermaine Jones believes the men's track team will as well.
Ball State began its outdoor season in sunny Florida with high temperatures and had one of the most successful stints of the season.
The Cardinals hope to continue their success in warm climates when they participate in the Pacesetter Invitational at Indiana State on Friday and Saturday.
"This weekend's weather is going to be close to the (Florida) situation this year," Jones said. "We perform well when the weather's nice, and I'm just hoping to repeat that this weekend."
BSU has a successful past at the Pacesetter, finishing third, second and fourth in the past three years. However, the team never beat out host Indiana State in those three years.
Other teams at the meet this weekend will include Eastern Illinois, Rend Lake, Valparaiso and Vincennes.
Since the meet in Florida, the team has struggled with getting high marks through the outdoor season, particularly one meet with unfavorable weather conditions at Notre Dame.
"We have to get better marks than last week. Win or no win, we have to get some marks," Jones said. "I don't want to get into a position where guys are chasing marks rather than already having them going in."
Last week at the Miami Invitational, the team's performance in the throwing events was not up to usual standard. BSU took fourth in the shot put, fourth and sixth in the discus, and third in the hammer throw.
The one bright spot for the Cards was the javelin throw, in which they finished first, second and third.
Junior hammer and discus thrower Kyle Cleaver, who was riddled by injuries throughout the indoor season, will sit out the Pacesetter in hopes of recovering from recent back problems.
While the loss of Cleaver hurts the team, Ball State will have distance runners Aaron Hoover, Sal Impelliterri and Stephen Cohen back, all of whom did not participate at Miami.
In the two-day Pacesetter, events are set to begin Friday at 3:30 p.m. and conclude Saturday.
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