Trackwomen go to OSU for championships

By MIKE MITSTIFER
Collegian Staff Writer

If you're looking for parity in the world of women's indoor track, the Big Ten is not the place to go.

Since the inaugural Big Ten Championships in 1982, only four schools have claimed titles; Wisconsin (7), Illinois (5), Indiana (3) and defending champion Michigan (3). With this year's championships getting underway at 9 a.m. tomorrow at French Field House in Columbus, Ohio, few are expecting this trend to change.

With No. 5 (tied) Michigan, No. 5 (tied) Wisconsin and No. 18 Illinois leading the way, unranked Penn State and the rest of the Big Ten are forced to check any high expectations at the door as they head for Ohio State. In particular, the Lady Lions have targeted a middle-of-the-pack, top-five finish since the opening of the season, a goal that hasn't changed over the last two months despite a good deal of success throughout the year.

"We've made some gigantic strides," coach Teri Jordan said. "I love to see how everyone is competing so hard, but we have to realize that we're a stronger outdoor team."

Thus far, All-Big Ten athlete Shakeema Walker is the only Lion to qualify provisionally for NCAA Indoor Nationals March 5-6. She qualified in the long jump two weeks ago at the Canon IV Classic with a jump of 6.72 meters, and comes into the Big Ten Championships as the No. 2 seed in both the long jump and triple jump.

"The best thing for me to do is to relax, go with the flow and just execute to the fullest," said Walker, who is looking to qualify automatically in both her events this weekend.

"I just hope everybody is able to do good times, to relax and just works as hard as they can."

Last year's championships saw the Lions take home a modest sixth place. This year's squad returns only a few of its top finishers from that team. Among them, Tiffany Glenn recorded a seventh-place finish in the 55-meter dash. Walker finished third in the triple jump last year followed by teammate and now-sophomore Toyin Augustus' sixth-place finish.

Still, Jordan is not worried about having so many new performers in such large roles.

"They've already figured it out," Jordan said. "The better the competition, the better they seem to perform."

"We just try to do the best we can do without thinking about what happened last year," freshman distance runner Stacie Bouchard said.

With two potential qualifying meets remaining, it's many of these underclassmen that are looking to join Walker in Indianapolis in two weeks.

One of those younger runners, sophomore Erin Davis, will be unable to attend the meet due to illness. It is a big blow to a Penn State team that desperately needs the points Davis can provide. Among the other potential national qualifiers mentioned by Jordan are Susanne Heyer, Deshaya Williams, Jen Aylward, Felicia Cooksey and Mary Jo Faust.

Augustus is seeded No. 3 in the 60-meter low hurdles and Bouchard No. 8 in the 5,000-meter run. Both are looking to lead the way for the underclassmen on the conference stage.

"I'm not worried about any personal goals," said Bouchard. "I just want to make sure I place high and contribute some points to the team."