After a second-place finish in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament, falling short of criminally oversized Grand Valley State, both the men’s and women’s track and field teams look forward to indoor Nationals.

AU will send one of the largest groups down—the largest group in school history—to the NCAA Division II Winter Championships Festival in Birmingham, Ala.

The men’s team is sending down 16 individual athletes, many of whom are competing in multiple events, along with two relay teams. The women’s team is sending eight athletes. Hopes are high for both teams.

The men’s team is led by sophomore regional track athlete of the year Drew Windle and senior co-field athlete of the year Garrett Gray, and is anchored by five seniors and five juniors. Junior Keith Cleveland leads the team in events, competing in the 200-meter run and the 400 as well as the 4×400 relay.

The men’s team is poised to win a national title after consistently placing high in the national meet, including a second-place finish in 2011. Ashland has the number one seed in the weight throw (Grey), shot put (junior Donald Duke) and the 800 (Windle).

The Eagles also have 13 athletes seeded in the top 10 in their events, setting up for what should be a successful meet. They are currently second in the nation overall, but with solid performances across the board could improve that ranking.

Specifically, Ashland looks to place highly in the throws, as they consistently have under head coach Jud Logan. In addition to the top weight throw and shot put marks, Ashland is sending the 11th-ranked shot putter (freshman Dustin Porter) and fourth-ranked athlete in the weight throw (senior Richard Quick).

AU is looking to build off of its success in the GLIAC conference meet, where the men had five individual conference championships in a second-place effort.

Other athletes that qualified for the men include sophomore Zac Ball (weight throw), sophomore Brian Baum (mile), sophomore Waquiem Comar (60 hurdles), senior Colton Johnson (5,000), senior Eric Klucar (pole vault), senior Cory Lamar (400, 4×400), sophomore Elijha Owens (60 hurdles, 4×400), junior Jacob Sussman (mile), junior Jacob Cook (4×400).

The women, sending a smaller contingent than the men, also enter in a great position. They earned a second-place national finish in 2011 with only seven athletes and are looking to succeed at a high level again this year. The Eagles took home three individual championships at this year’s GLIAC meet.

Senior Katie Nageotte won the conference in the pole vault and has the best national mark this year (14 feet, 2.5 inches). Senior Kendra Bassitt won the conference in the pentathlon and is fourth in the nation. She will also be competing in the 60-meter hurdles.

In order to repeat the high level of success they had last year, the Eagles will need high performances from all of their athletes.

The women also look to place highly in the throws. Sophomore Jessica Bridenthal is sixth in the nation in weight throw and 14th in shot put. Sophomore Kim Habegger is fourth in the weight throw and freshman Jamie Sindelar is fourth in shot put.

Sophomore Jennifer Foster is seeded second in the high jump. Also competing will be freshman Cynthia Watt (weight throw) and junior Shaunisha Winter (triple jump).

If everything goes the Eagles’ way, both the men and women are poised for a very high finish in the National Festival. The events begin today and will be finished Saturday.