The Chadron State College track and field team is hoping for a strong showing at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's track and field meet hosted by Western State College at Gunnison, Colo. on Sunday.

The men's decathlon and women's heptathlon will take place Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. The remainder of the meet will begin at 9 a.m. Monday and run through Tuesday afternoon.

Fifteen women and 21 men will be competing for Chadron State. Coach John Reiners said nearly all the Eagles should be at full strength.

"I think we'll be healthy, rested and focused," Reiners said. "I have felt that at the past three meets we've lacked a little focus. I think some of that has been due to the heavy academic load many of our athletes carry. They were writing term papers and studying for tests during our trips. Now that the semester has ended, they'll be able to concentrate solely on their events. I hope things fall into place for them."

The CSC women scored 180.5 points and were third in the team standings at last year's conference meet. The men scored 100 points and were fourth. Reiners believes the men have a good chance of increasing their point total this year. Since Amanda Owens, who scored 29.5 points and Emily Volkmer, who scored 23, were seniors last year, the CSC women probably won't tally as many points this year.

The Eagles' Perisha Hinton in the 400 hurdles and Mike Smith in the 200 meters are defending conference champions. Both are the pre-meet leaders in those events again this year.

They also are among the six CSC athletes who have posted marks that provisionally qualify them for this year's NCAA Division II Outdoor Meet that will be May 22-24 at Pomona, Calif.

Smith is provisionally qualified in both the 100 and 200. Also on the list in two events are Mary Wells in the shot put and discus, Stacy Girard in the 1,500 and 3,000 and Joe Schultz in the 1,500 and 5,000. Another provisional qualifier is Brandon Harrington in the high hurdles.

Reiners said several of the Eagles will undoubtedly need to improve their marks to get national bids.

"If we were going to nationals today, I think Stacy in the 1,500 and Mike and Mary in both of their events would qualify, but the others would probably not make it. That makes the conference meet really important to them," he said.

Following are the Eagles who rank among the top 10 in events and their marks entering the conference meet:

Women's events

400-5, Laurie Eklund, 59.90; 8, Sara Pilakowski, 1:00.65; 9, Whitney Hollaway, 1:00.67.

1,500-2, Stacy Girard, 4:42.03

400 hurdles-1, Perisha Hinton, 1:02.88; 6, Sara Pilakowski, 1:06.02.

1,600 relay-1, Chadron State, 3:56.81.

Shot put-2, Mary Wells, 45- 1/2; 7, Kate Jungck, 40-8.

Hammer throw-2, Jessica Horsley, 159-2; 6, Mary Wells, 134-1; 7, Kate Jungck, 131-4.

Discus-3, Mary Wells, 146-3; 10, Kate Jungck, 112-10.

Javelin-6, Stacee Craig, 105-3; 7, Kayla Carrier, 95-4.

High jump-3, Kayla Carrier, 5-3; 5, Staci Alberts, 5-2 1/4; 6, Stacee Craig. 5- 1/4.

Pole vault-3 tie, Kelli Payne and Dusti Varland, 10-7 1/2; 10, Megan Harrell, 9-7 3/4.

Heptathlon-3, Stacee Craig, 3,701 points.

Men's events

100-2, Mike Smith, 10.45; 6, Gary Metcalf, 10.83.

200-1, Mike Smith, 20.98; 4, Gary Metcalf, 21.79; 8, Jake Gruver, 22.48.

400-8, C.J. Dean, 50.25.

800-10, Matt Snay, 1:57.05.

1,500-6, Joe Schultz, 3:55.27

5,000-6, Joe Schultz, 15:08.02

110 hurdles-1, Brandon Harrington, 14.40.

400 hurdles-6, John Girard, 57.81.

400 relay-2, Chadron State, 41.36.

1,600 relay-5, Chadron State, 3:23.21.

Shot put-3, Mike Aimone, 51-1 3/4.

Discus-9, Mike Aimone, 152-0.

Javelin-4, Marshall Fischer, 161-5; 7, Jake Gruver, 152-9; 9, Tanner Bollers, 142-10.

Long jump-4, Gary Metcalf, 23-0; 6, Jourdin Holden, 22-10; 8, Brandon Harrington, 22-5 3/4.

Triple jump-3, Brandon Harrington, 48- 1/2; 5, John Ritzen, 45-101/2; 8, Riley Northrup, 45-4 1/2.

High jump-6 tie, Riley Northrup and Jourdin Holden, 6-4 3/4 .

Pole vault-4, Chase Rasby, 14-6.

Decathlon-8, Tanner Bollers, 4,998 points.