Track and field is headed to the MAC Indoor Championships after getting a taste of MAC competition last weekend.

NIU is going into Kent, Ohio, with 18 athletes and two relay teams that earned qualifying marks this season. Head coach Connie Teaberry said having 18 athletes in the MAC Championships could give the Huskies the advantage of more than one athlete being in one particular event.

“Definitely a benefit to have your teammates in the same events that you’re in,” Teaberry said. “Because No. 1, you’ll have someone to warm up with. Your mindsets will be the same, and you have someone to push you. In the longer races, it’s always a team effort. As one goes it pushes the one that’s behind to stick with them no matter what the ending time is, and I think we will end up with great performances because of that.”

Of those 18 individuals, five are going into their indoor postseason with top 10 MAC marks in their respective events.

Junior Latesha Bigby, due to her solid performances in the 60 meters and 60 hurdles this season, including an event title in both events at Ball State, stands out among the athletes NIU will have on the track or in the field events.

Bigby is slotted with the fourth-best 60-hurdles mark, which is tied for the best pre-conference meet rankings of any NIU athlete. Meghan Heuer is ranked fourth in the mile.

Freshman Claudette Day had a personal-best high jump mark of 5-06.00 at the Feb. 15 Fred Wilt Boilermaker Invitational, which was the second-best jump of the 11 participants.

A’Iesha Irvin-Muhammad, who qualified in just her second collegiate meet, hit the auto qualifier marks in the 60 meters and 200 meters, which are the sixth- and ninth-best MAC marks so far this season. Sidra Sherril in shot put rounds out the conference qualifiers who will go into the meet ranked in the top 10.

“I think the ladies have done a great job up to the point with staying focused and staying competitive,” Teaberry said. “I think we’ve reached that point that we are ready for the MAC Championships this weekend. The ladies that we have competing all have the potential to score, so the staff is really looking forward to them laying it all on the line and seeing what they can do and really going for the best in each and every event that they are in.”

Last season, NIU placed 10th out of 12; the only current Huskie who scored during the meet was junior Jamie Burr, who is injured.

“This is the second year that we’ve had qualified marks,” Teaberry said. “So I think we are about the same as far as number of athletes, but I think the quality this year opposed to last year has moved up significantly.”