The Ball State University track and field head coach Randy Heisler expects a battle when his Cardinals travel to Eastern Michigan University Friday for the Mid-American Conference Championships.
"It's going to be tight," Heisler said. "Ten points could separate third place from seventh place."
Heisler said 10 points is a small margin in a meet that defines the entire season. The Cardinals will find out what end of that margin they are on after two days of competition. Heisler said he thinks the team can end up near the top.
"If we have a really good meet, we could be as high as third," Heisler said. "If we fall apart, we could be sixth or seventh. But that's not going to happen. We've got too much quality at the top, and those kids are going to show up."
The Cardinals are coming off a third-place finish at the Ball State University Triangular in which 20 Cardinal athletes achieved lifetime or season bests, Heisler said. One of them was fifth-year senior Cara Collins, whose toss of 60-feet-7-and-three-quarter inches in the weight throw tied a school record. Collins said the feat came as no surprise to her.
"I spent the better part of the season expecting to break the record," Collins said. "This meet I just said, 'Whatever happens happens. I'm just going to throw the darn thing.'"
Although she failed to break the record, Collins said the achievement was still significant to her.
"It meant a lot," Collins said. "It was the last home meet in my career, and to do it at Ball State - it's like icing on the cake."
Collins enters today's meet with another personal best on her mind. Her goal is to reach 62 to 63 feet in the weight throw, she said. Collins said she is also is looking to push herself in the shot put, where her personal best of 45-feet-9-and-three-quarter inches is two feet off the school record. She set the mark last week at the Ball State University Triangular.
This week, Heisler said he is looking for more breakout performances like Collins' from athletes seeded in the middle of the pack. Ball State has several girls who are not ranked high in conference standings but whose recent improvement has encouraged Heisler, he said.
RaJae Marable is seeded ninth in the conference in the 60-meter hurdles, but at last week's meet, Marable was keeping up with second-seeded teammate Katie Johnson, Heisler said.
In the 400-meter run, Heisler said the Cardinals have three competitors seeded low who could finish in the top three spots if they each drop a half-second off their times. A five- or six-point swing like that can change the entire outlook of the meet, he said.
"We're going in as positive as we can, knowing that from a numbers standpoint, it'd be tough to win but not impossible," Heisler said, making it clear that the Cardinals will compete to win.
Collins agreed, saying that anything can happen in a big meet.
"You can expect the unexpected when you go to [the conference meet]," she said.
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