Competing with an injury-laden roster, the Ball State University track and field team won three events on its way to a sixth-place finish Saturday at the Miami Invitational.
Miami University won the meet, scoring 212 points through 19 scored events. Ball State's 66.5 points were good enough to place the Cardinals sixth among the 14 participating schools, behind Bowling Green State University (92 points), University at Buffalo (88.5), Ohio University (80) and Dayton University (74).
Senior Cara Collins said that while injuries may have prevented the Cardinals from scoring more points, they did not discourage the participating athletes.
"Despite our injuries, team morale was high," Collins said. "Everyone was excited to be there, and everyone wanted to be there."
The Cardinals triumphed in the 5,000-meter run, 100-meter hurdles and the long jump. Ali Bishel won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:07.48, while Katie Johnson took first in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 14.03 seconds and Amanda Barnhart cleared 5.77 meters to capture the long jump.
Ball State also finished second and third, respectively, in the 4x400 and 4x100-meter relays.
Collins contributed to the Cardinal cause by placing in the top seven in three events. She finished fourth in the hammer throw, fifth in the discus and seventh in the shot put.
"It was kind of bittersweet because I was happy placing near the top but not happy with the distances," Collins said.
The three throwing events require similar preparation and focus, Collins said.
"They're really a lot alike," Collins said. "All rely on speed and explosion."
While Collins said shot put was more intense than the other two throwing events, she called the hammer throw the "second-hardest event technique-wise" in all of track and field, next to the 400-meter hurdles.
Next up for the Cardinals is the Dave Rankin Invitational, which takes place on Saturday in West Lafayette.
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