While several of the top athletes on the Ball State men's track team scored points in their respective events at the Miami Invitational Saturday, head coach Jermaine Jones feels the team has room for improvement.
The team finished in third place out of 10 teams with 143.5 points, trailing Cincinnati and Miami.
"I thought we could have done a lot better," Jones said. "There were some events where we did not perform in as well as I would have liked to. The people that normally score for us need to score. That just didn't happen the way it should have happened today."
Specifically, not scoring to potential were the throwing events with the exception of the javelin, in which the team placed first, second and third, contributing 24 of the team's points.
Upperclassmen Ed Beven, Andrew Miller and Tom Green had throws of 186-8, 183-6 and 182-8, respectively, to take top honors in the event.
Meanwhile, among the hammer throw, discus and shot put, BSU combined for just 20 points. Jones felt the Cards should have been in the top three for those events.
There were bright spots for the team, though, in the form of freshman Kurt Kinkead. He who won the 400-meter hurdles and had an NCAA regional qualifying time of 52.23 seconds, a mere .01 ahead of Cincinnati's David Payne.
"I was very pleased with Kurt because to qualify for the regional meet as a freshman is a very good accomplishment," Jones said. "He had stages in that race that weren't so good so he knows he can go faster. He's hungry to do better."
Another top freshman performance came from Geoff King, who received the baton in the final leg of the 4x400 relay with a third place standing and overcame Valparaiso to take second at 42.54.
King also ran in the 200 and 100 dashes, finishing fifth and third, respectively. In total, King had a part in contributing 18 points to the team.
Senior Paul Panning won the pole vault, setting a meet record at 16-10 34. The mark was also good enough for a NCAA regional qualifier.
"We had some bright spots and I'm not going to dwell on things that didn't go well, because you're not going to get any better doing that," Jones said. "But we're going to be a little more disciplined in practice the next few weeks to work out the situation."
The Cardinals resume action Saturday when they travel to Terre Haute for the Pacesetter Invitational.
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
