Nation's best bound for South Bend

Freshman sprinter Kaleel Johnson runs during the end of the men's 200-meter dash during the EIU Mega Meet on Saturday, Jan. 22 in the fieldhouse in Lantz Arena. (Jordan Boner | The Daily Eastern News)

The Eastern track and field team is hoping that the roads will be clear on Friday, as the team looks to travel to South Bend, Ind. for the Notre Dame Meyo Invite held at the Loftus Sports Center. 

The Panthers will face a lot of good competition from schools such as Marquette and Western Michigan, as well as Big Ten schools Michigan, Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan State and Purdue. Also traveling up to compete in the meet will be SEC power Alabama.

The Panthers will enter the Meyo Invite with the No. 9 ranking in the midwest region. This puts the Panthers up two spots from last week's No. 11 ranking. Former top team Illinois has moved down from No. 1 to No. 5 in the rankings. Ohio State is currently ranked No. 16 in the nation by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

In the men's 60-meter dash, red-shirt junior Zye Boey will square off again against Andrew Riley of Illinois. Boey edged out Riley at last week's Illinois Intercollegiate tournament to win the event. Boey is currently ranked 27 in the nation, while Riley is ranked at 40.

Boey, who also won the 200-meter dash at the Illinois Intercollegiate, will also see Kirani James of Alabama at the Notre Dame Meyo Invite. James, a sophomore, currently holds the No. 3 nationally ranked time of 20.57 seconds. Boey is listed at No. 7 with a time of 20.74. James also holds the No. 2 time in the nation in the 400-meter dash with a time of 45.24 seconds.

The only other ranked member of the Panthers track and field team is red-shirt freshman Mick Viken, who is ranked No. 19 in the men's pole vault. Viken was also named Ohio Valley Conference Male Field Athlete of the Week for his performance at last week's Illinois Intercollegiate. This marks the second consecutive week Viken has received the honor.

Viken said that he is excited to face the competition at Notre Dame.

"My goal every week is to win the meet, but this is a completely different meet than any that we have had. I think there's five or six Big Ten schools and some other schools with a lot of really big competition there," Viken said.

To prepare for the meet, Viken said he is looking to purchase new poles that will hopefully let him perform better.

"If I can get on those, I think I should be able to jump 17' 4" or 17' 5"," Viken said.

A 17' 4" or 17' 5" mark would break an Eastern school record of 17' 1", which Viken has already tied. The record is currently also held by pole vault coach Kyle Ellis, who set the record in 2007.

Viken said travel would not be an issue for the team come Friday with the recent winter storms.

"I feel like the worst of it is already come by and done, so we'll get up and leave early Friday and we'll get there," Viken said.


Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7944 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu