On paper, the Ball State University women's track and field team can appear top heavy.
Entering Saturday's meet at Bowling Green State University, it returns some talented upperclassmen, such as All-Mid-American Conference honorees Ali Bishel, Brittany Ade and Katie Johnson.
But on the other side of the spectrum, there are 17 freshman out of the 41 athletes on the roster, making it a youth-driven team.
Coach Randy Heisler said that fact does not intimidate him.
"I feel really good about the freshman class," Heisler said. "They all have a really good attitude, they work hard and I think they'll do well from here on out."
Junior Ra'Jae Marable, a 60-meter hurdles champion in the 2008 MAC Indoor Championships, agrees with her coach.
"I think the freshmen might feel a little bit of pressure to go out and do well," Marable said. "But I think they're also eager to just go out and show what they're capable of."
Heisler said the young additions to an already accomplished group of returning athletes should help the team vie for a conference championship. The members of the team are setting their goals just as high for the season.
For Marable, that means improving on any previous success.
"I just hope to get off to a really good start, hopefully getting no new injuries along the way, and repeating everything I accomplished in the past few years," she said.
Sophomore distance runner Christine Talhelm said the whole team expects to improve both in their personal and team records.
"Individually, I want to place in conference in indoor and outdoor in the 800 [meters], and to improve on my times from last year," Talhelm said. "And obviously, the whole team wants to win the MAC."
Even though a first meet could always cause some nervousness in any athlete, Talhelm doesn't think that will be a problem with the team, including the freshmen, come this Saturday.
"Everyone should just be excited to go out and make their performance count," Talhelm said. "And to show that they'll be able to contribute to a winning team."
Ball State will be competing on Saturday against five other MAC schools in Bowling Green, Ohio University, Eastern Michigan University, Miami University and the University of Toledo. The non-conference schools participating will be the University of Cincinnati, Oakland University and IPFW.
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