It’s safe to say that Ashland University indoor track and field has, once again, achieved great success.

The AU men are ranked third nationally and the women are ranked fourth. Several Eagles have broken school records and are near the top of the standings nationally in their respective events.

The assumption would be that because the Eagles are ranked so high nationally that they would be well atop of their conference and looking forward to competing at nationals.

In the GLIAC, though, that is far from the case. 

Ashland and Grand Valley State are neck in neck in the national polls, with GVSU’s women ranked first in the country and its men in fifth. In addition, Findlay and Tiffin have seen top ten national ranks this season. 

That kind of competition makes the GLIAC championships an intense meet where a lot of the nation’s best are on display.

The conference meet will take place on March 1-2 at Hillsdale College in Michigan. For AU athletes, this meet can solidify seeding for the national meet or be the last chance to qualify for nationals. 

Redshirt junior thrower Zac Ball is one that has already achieved an automatic national qualification in the weight throw, but he still has a lot to compete for at GLIACs. 

“I’m second in the country right now,” Ball said, “but I’m also second in the GLIAC. This conference is just that good.”

Ball became just the sixth Ashland weight thrower ever to throw over 70 feet at the Youngstown State Indoor Invitational earlier this year. 

“It’s a pretty cool list of people to join. It took a lot of hard work and effort to get there.”

Ball sees that there is more work to be done with conferences just around the corner.

“It’s definitely one of the highest energy meets of the year,” Ball said. “Everyone is close together and there are all of these events going on at the same time. You feed off that energy.”

Jared Conklin, Clay Harris, and Mack Taylor in the weight throw, with those three trying to defend provisional national marks. 

In the shot put, Donald Duke will try to improve his automatic qualifying mark of 62 feet 7.75 inches, while Jason Zaan and Zac Papay look to improve provisional marks.

Defending national champion Drew Windle will look to improve his top-ranked 800-meter time of 1:48.05. He will also race in the 4×400 relay currently ranked first in the nation.

Elijah Owens is ranked fourth in the nation and first in the conference in the 60-meter hurdles and will look to secure his spot for the national meet. Brian Baum and Nick Hall are first and second in the conference in the mile.

For the AU women, Macy Caldwell is second in the conference in the 60-meter hurdles and ninth in nation. Caldwell and Jenifer Bjelac are also listed in the top ten in this pentathlon. 

Jennifer Foster has an automatic qualification in the high jump and is listed at fourth in the nation.

Jessica Bridenthal is first nationally in the weight throw. Kim Habegger is listed in second and Cynthia Watt is fifth. They are first, second, and third in the GLIAC.

In shot put, Bridenthal is third in the nation and second in the conference. She has automatically qualified for nationals. Jaime Sindelar and Megan Tomei are also looking to qualify for nationals in shot put.

Ashland track has proven a lot before, but this team is trying to leave their own mark in its history.

“We got together in fall conditioning on the first day,” Ball said, “and we told each other that we’re going to bring the attitude this year and give one-hundred percent and turn some heads.”

They’ve done that already, but who’s to say they can’t do it again?