The outdoor track and field team has been working hard this past indoor season and getting ready to move outdoors. Dara Ford, head director of the track and field team and the cross-country team, is going into her 10th year at Otterbein. In each of those years, she’s led the team to the top half of the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC).
Ford is being joined by five other coaches this season, all specialized in different events. The main goal for this outdoor season is to move up in OAC rankings and grow in points compared to last season. The indoor season can be crucial for the team to move up in the OAC rankings for next year and other future years.
The team has done well for the 2023-24 indoor season yet is still going as they plan to quickly transfer to the outdoor season. So far, the men's track and field team had placed 3 out of 13 at the All-Ohio Championships while the women placed six out of 12. Both of the men and women's teams ranked five out of 10 at the OAC Indoor Championships, held at Muskingum University, last month.
Players and coaches are excited to back many returning players. Peyton Proffitt is a sophomore pole vaulter for the women's team and was named Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year, All-Region Status for outdoor track and field, along with being an All-American. The coaches expressed their excitement to see what she will bring for the outdoor season.
Maddie Myers, a sophomore nursing major, does 60m hurdles and 400m sprints during the indoor season. Myers has been training regularly and is ready for this coming season. "After dealing with a hamstring injury last indoor season, which resulted in 2 months out, I have been working on gaining the strength of this muscle in the offseason and it’s beginning to show,” says Myers.
Myers says that the hurdlers have already improved a lot because of the different training made by the new hurdles coach Shawn Arthur. “I do not only expect lots of PRs from my teammates and I, but also a continuation of the hard work from the preseason to carry into the regular season,” says Myers.
Both teams head to New Concord, Ohio on Saturday, March 23 for the Amy Adams Invitational.
