Tracking a dynasty
Issue date: 2/25/02 Section: Opinions
For the fifth time in six years, the men's track and field team clinched the Ohio Valley Indoor Conference title. Eastern took the victory Saturday after two days of competition in Lantz Fieldhouse.
For the athletes, it wasn't as much an honor to take the fifth title, but the fact that the team overcame the losses of key seniors last season to come back and win another conference title was an honor.
"If you look at the number of seniors we lost last year, you wouldn't expect to be winning the title again," head coach Tom Akers said.
The men's track and field program has continually been at the top of its league, winning meets and invitationals as well as bringing several individual athletes to the national scene at the end of each season.
And while several other Eastern athletic teams have taken conference titles since the fall, the men's track and field team has emerged as the most dominant program in recent years.
Akers has been at the helm of the track and field program for five years and has coached the team to nine consecutive indoor and outdoor titles, preparing for the tenth this spring. And with each title has come the conference 'Coach of the Year' honor for Akers.
Assistant coach John McInerney focuses his coaching to the distance runners, whom he coaches in the fall as the head cross country coach. His year-round work with these athletes has consistently produced successful runners, most recently junior Kyle O'Brien, who won both the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter run this weekend at the Ohio Valley Conference championship meet.
Senior sprinter Jarod Macklin was named the men's Athlete of the Year Saturday for the second time since earning the honor in the past outdoor season. Macklin won both the 200 and 400-meter dash in addition to running a leg in the winning distance medley relay and the 4x400-meter relay.
Season after season, both indoor and outdoor, the men's track and field teams have produced conference titles with athletes who run faster, jump higher and throw farther than most competitors around the Midwest.
The athletes begin competition in December and finish in May and are the only athletic squad to be able to produce two conference titles in the same year.Both the athletes and coaches on the team should be congratulated for their outstanding efforts year in and year out.
For the athletes, it wasn't as much an honor to take the fifth title, but the fact that the team overcame the losses of key seniors last season to come back and win another conference title was an honor.
"If you look at the number of seniors we lost last year, you wouldn't expect to be winning the title again," head coach Tom Akers said.
The men's track and field program has continually been at the top of its league, winning meets and invitationals as well as bringing several individual athletes to the national scene at the end of each season.
And while several other Eastern athletic teams have taken conference titles since the fall, the men's track and field team has emerged as the most dominant program in recent years.
Akers has been at the helm of the track and field program for five years and has coached the team to nine consecutive indoor and outdoor titles, preparing for the tenth this spring. And with each title has come the conference 'Coach of the Year' honor for Akers.
Assistant coach John McInerney focuses his coaching to the distance runners, whom he coaches in the fall as the head cross country coach. His year-round work with these athletes has consistently produced successful runners, most recently junior Kyle O'Brien, who won both the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter run this weekend at the Ohio Valley Conference championship meet.
Senior sprinter Jarod Macklin was named the men's Athlete of the Year Saturday for the second time since earning the honor in the past outdoor season. Macklin won both the 200 and 400-meter dash in addition to running a leg in the winning distance medley relay and the 4x400-meter relay.
Season after season, both indoor and outdoor, the men's track and field teams have produced conference titles with athletes who run faster, jump higher and throw farther than most competitors around the Midwest.
The athletes begin competition in December and finish in May and are the only athletic squad to be able to produce two conference titles in the same year.Both the athletes and coaches on the team should be congratulated for their outstanding efforts year in and year out.
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