As a result of tighter admission requirements for the Jesse Owens Classic, the Miami University men's track and field team will split up to compete in two different meets, and the women's track and field team will compete in three different meets Friday and Saturday April 22 and 23.
The Jesse Owens Classic, which will be held in Columbus, Ohio, serves as an opportunity for collegiate and post-collegiate athletes to compete at their highest levels.
While this is still true, the Jesse Owens Classic now has minimum requirements that athletes must meet in order to compete and have their times, jumps or throws marked.
"We thought it would be counterproductive to take our guys and not have their marks scored," head coach Warren Mandrell said.
For the discus throw, the minimum requirement for women is 130 feet and 160 feet for the men. In the long jump it is 18-feet-6-inches for the women and 21-feet-5-inches for the men. These are just two requirements set for the meet. The rest of the meet's standards can be found on the Ohio State University Buckeyes' website for the Jesse Owens Classic.
While some Big Ten Conference teams like the University of Michigan and Michigan State University will participate in the Jesse Owens Classic, Indiana University (IU) will host its own meet, the Polytan Invitational, which the RedHawks are taking full advantage of.
After pulling out a home victory at the Miami Invitational April 8 and 9, then placing second at the All-Ohio Championships April 15 and 16, Mandrell is using IU's meet to focus on individual marks since there will be no team scoring.
While the majority of the team is at Indiana, runners Jarrod Eick, Michael Perry and Robbie Fisher will compete in the distance races beginning 8 p.m. at the Jesse Owens Classic. They will compete for good times that will qualify them for the NCAA first round.
The women's track and field team will split between three different meets this weekend.
A number of throwers, jumpers and runners will compete at the Polytan Invitational at Indiana, while a handful of athletes will compete at the Jesse Owens Classic.
The majority of the sprinters will travel to Oxford, Miss. for the Mississippi Open.
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"All three meets are good meets," head coach Kelly Phillips said. "So the main thing is to get in some good competitions."
Like the men's team, the women's team has had an outstanding couple of weeks.
The RedHawks won the Miami Invitational by six points April 8 and 9. The team then split up April 15 and 16, as four runners traveled to California for the Mt. San Antonio Relays and the rest of the team competed at All-Ohio.
At the Mt. SAC Relays, Rachel Patterson, Katie Lenahan, Maggie Bingham and Kate Carter all had person-best times. Patterson's time in the 5000-meters also broke a school record and qualified her for the NCAA first round.
At the All-Ohio Championships, the rest of the team competed their way to a third place finish.
With the team doing so well, Phillips' goal is to have some good runs, throws and top conference performances.
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