For the first time this season, Ball State track and field team will not be traveling. The Cardinals are staying in Muncie for the Ball State Tune-Up.
Mid-American Conference competitor Western Michigan will be there along with Fort Wayne and Wright State. Head coach Brian Etelman is excited to have the opportunity to stay on campus this weekend.
“Travelling just kind of wears on you. It can take a toll on you,” Etelman said. “You hear other sports talk about, ‘Gosh, we are lucky we’ve got three home games next week.’ Like basketball talks about how much easier it is to stay at home than to travel. The same thing applies to us. Eliminating the travel piece does wonders to our performance.”
This weekend’s performance will be the last chance Ball State has prior to the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships, and staying at home should give them the best opportunity to get their fastest times and higher scores. Even though junior Regan Lewis likes competing away because of the different tracks, she is not worried about Friday and Western Michigan.
“I already know who is on their team, and I am used to who is on every team, and I am not concerned with [Western Michigan],” Lewis said.
Etelman is not too concerned about this weekend either because of the experience Ball State has had competing against Power Five programs.
“Competitively, it is significant step down from Vanderbilt, so I don’t necessarily feel the pressure to compete all of our studs and all that stuff,” Etelman said.
While Etelman does not think all of his “studs” need to compete, because he wants them healthy for the MAC Championship meet, he thinks Western Michigan is going to bring everything they’ve got.
“I bet you they bring it. Sometimes people kind of do it, kind of not the weekend before, but I think they come trying to light us up,” Etelman said. “We are in a unique situation where the conference meet will be kind of tight like it was last year, and we don’t have a lot of room for error. We could finish higher than we ever have in the last 10-15 years, but it really depends on five or six people.
“Western Michigan probably feels the same way. We are actually in a pretty tight race with them from a team standing, so I bet you they treat Friday like a championship.”
Lewis thinks the team will do well, despite not having everyone on the roster that usually competes.
Last weekend, during Ball State’s meet in Nashville, Etelman’s theme was focusing on finishing. This week, it’s been more of the same.
“We had a team meeting last week and we talked about just finishing,” Etelman said. “The end is near, but really you can determine your own fate right now and just every second and every minute of every day you are thinking about the MAC meet.”
Ball State will have an opportunity to determine its own fate on Friday against Western Michigan prior to the MAC Championship meet on the weekend of Feb. 23.
Contact Olivia Adams with comments at omadams@bsu.edu.
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