The men's and women's track team each have one representative at the NCAA Championships held in Austin, Texas. For the men, senior Paul Panning will compete in the pole vault, while Jennifer McCoy will compete in the heptathlon for the women.
Panning will compete Thursday in the qualifying round of the pole vault competition, while McCoy began competition in the heptathlon on Wednesday.
Four of the seven events in the heptathlon were scheduled for Wednesday, but due to bad weather only one was able to run. McCoy had a 16th place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, giving her 931 points and a current placing of 16 out of 28.
The weather could be a benefit for Panning however, who has a lot more experience vaulting in inclement weather than other athletes from warmer climates do.
At the Mid-American Conference Championships, Panning won the pole vault after10 of the 17 competitors no-heighted mainly due to the wind and rain.
Panning won the MAC Championship with a jump of 16 feet, 10 3/4 inches, and at the NCAA Mid-East Regional meet he finished third with a school record and personal best vault of 17 feet, 11 inches, qualifiying him for nationals.
After Panning jumped 17 feet, 11 inches at regionals, moving his national ranking from 49th to 7th, McKay said Panning is no longer sneaking up on vaulters at the big time universities.
A year ago, Panning finished eighth in the pole vault at the NCAA Championships and on Thursday he will try to better that performance.
Panning and assistant coach B.J. McKay both think that a top five finish this weekend is very accomplishable, but a finish in the top three would be great.
With the men's track and field team being cut after this season, Panning is the last member of the team remaining and he will look to represent all the previous track athletes.
"If I can get out of regionals I represent those 50 guys and I represent all of the prevoius athletes throughtout the past seven decades of track," Panning said.
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