Ball State University Athletics
Track & Field Opens 2010 Indoor Campaign Saturday
January 14, 2010 | Track & Field
MUNCIE, Ind. - - After months of preparation, the Ball State women's track & field team will open the 2010 indoor season Saturday, when it travels to Bowling Green, Ohio, for the Bowling Green Women's Challenge which is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
The 2010 squad will look to build upon last year's performance at the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships where BSU's student-athletes posted a league-high five first-place finishes while tying for third overall at the meet. Over the past two seasons, Ball State athletes have won 11 MAC indoor titles, while Akron and Western Michigan are tied for second with six apiece.
This years' team returns 20 letterswinners from last season's squad including the 2009 MAC Indoor Championship Most Outstanding Track Performer senior Ali Bishel, who won the 3,000m and 5,000m events at the meet.
Other returning MAC Individual Champions include senior Katie Johnson (100m hurdles, 2008 outdoor) and juniors Thekla Lorenz (Pentathlon, 2008 indoor) and Ra'Jae Marable (60m hurdles, 2008 indoor).
In addition, 19 new faces have been added to the roster to help give the Cardinals depth for their run at the indoor and outdoor conference titles.
Earlier this week, Ball State head track & field coach Randy Heisler sat down with ballstatesports.com to give a preview of what to expect from the program this season.
QUESTION: What are the goals for the Ball State Track & Field program for the 2010 season?
RANDY HEISLER: Our goals for this year are to improve upon our finishes from last season. Since I have been at Ball State, one of our goals has been to be ready to go at the conference meet, and we have done that by winning more indoor events than any other team in the conference.
In 2008, we won six indoor events and last season we won five. Our problem has been depth. We win events, but we do not score points with second, third or fourth place finishes. We need to improve in that area to have our team move up in the standings and have a chance to win.
Q: What do you see as the team's strongest events this season?
RH: We have two areas that are true strong points for our team this season.
We return two previous MAC Champions in the hurdles [senior Katie Johnson, 100m hurdles outdoor champion in 2008 and junior Ra'Jae Marable, 60m hurdles indoor champion in 2008]. With both back this year, I look for us to place high in the hurdles at the conference meet.
We also have senior Ali Bishel who, on any given day, is the best distance runner in the conference. Over her career, Ali has won five MAC titles, including two at last year's indoor meet.
When these girls go to meets and are on the track, their competition knows who they are and that is big for us. It helps our girls when they step onto the track to know they are expected to win.
Q: Amber Williams was a five-time MAC Champion for your squad last season. Who do you see stepping up and filling the point-scoring role for her this season?
RH: Janae Taylor came in as a freshman last year and grew a lot by training behind and racing with Amber, which helped set her up to become the next great sprinter in the conference. From a sprint standpoint, I look for Janae to step right in there.
For someone like Amber, who had multiple skills, we will look for Katie Johnson and Ra'Jae Marable to pick up where she left off in the hurdles. Both were MAC hurdle champions in 2008 when Amber redshirted and I look for them to be just as strong this year.
Between the three of them, Janae, Katie and Ra'Jae, I think we will be okay in replacing Amber's point-production.
Q: How do you see the sprint events breaking down this season?
RH: We are young in the sprints. Janae is only a sophomore, yet she is our tried-and-true athlete in that area. We have recruited a lot of freshmen and we are getting to the point where we are starting to look at options.
We have freshmen Sharise Logwood and Erica Campbell, both all-state performers in Indiana, who I expect really great things from, not just down the road, but this year. It is going to take time for them to understand the level of competition they are going against, but once we get into the season they will figure it out.
Q: How do you see the distance events breaking down this season?
RH: The really nice thing for us this year in the distance events is fifth-year senior Vanessa Gilbert, who has been our number one/two distance runner with Ali the last few years, is back for both indoors and outdoors after redshirting last season. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, and will take a lot of pressure off Ali. We are going to have two runners that understand the competition at this level. We have also recruited a number of freshmen for distances from the mile on up.
Q: What area of the field events do you expect the team to excel in?
RH: We have four long jumpers with the potential to score at the conference meet this season. We return juniors Thekla Lorenz, who was the 2008 MAC indoor pentathlon champion, and a healthy Lindsay Bangert, who finished third in the conference at the indoor meet as a freshman. We also added all-state long jumpers in freshmen Sharise Logwood and Alyssa Hurlburt.
Q: Who do you see as the team leaders this season?
RH: When I first came to Ball State, I started by appointing leaders. However, over 20-plus years of coaching, I have found you cannot appoint a leader.
We have a couple of athletes who are going to lead by example and we have a couple who lead vocally. Over the course of the year, I expect numerous girls to develop into leadership roles and help our team become successful; it's not going to be just one or two athletes I point out.
