In the Missouri Southern men’s indoor track and field team’s locker room there is a dry-erase board. On this board there are a lot of numbers written pertaining to the different athletes and events, but there is also one message, written bigger than the rest – “What it will take to win the MIAA championship-130 points.”

“We’re going to have to have our best meet during the conference meet,” said Tom Rutledge, men’s head coach. “We have to prove ourselves on one day. It doesn’t matter what we do all year. It doesn’t matter if we win every meet that we are in if we do bad or have a bad meet at the conference meet, we’re out of it. So we have to work up to that and gain confidence and know that we are capable of doing that and that’s why I start posting things on my wall. If we fail in any area, then Central (Missouri State University) and Northwest (Missouri State University) are going to walk away from us easily.”

At the MSSU/Radio Shack All-Comers Invitational held on Jan. 23 and 24 the Lions finished in first place.

Southern picked up 19 top 10 finishes, including three first place finishes.

“We had a very good weekend last weekend,” Rutledge said.

“You take out one event on Friday night, and that was an unattached person in the pole vault, and we won every event.”

“It feels good to win in front of all of your family and friends,” said Arley Smith, senior shot and weight thrower .

Next meet for the Lions is at the University of Kansas on Saturday. It’s a meet the Lions are looking forward to.

“If everybody performs the way that they can, we should win,” said Michael Stewart, junior jumper. “We have a pretty strong team this year, so we should be fine. But, it is just another meet. You’ve got to take it one day at a time and we just have to try to outperform ourselves.”

“It’s an oversized track, so I’m looking to run a little faster,” said Brian Lyons, senior distance runner. “I’m hoping to get a qualifying time in the mile.”

“I’m excited and ready,” Smith said.

“There’s going to be a lot of division one schools and a lot more competition. I’m going to have to throw as good, or better than I did last week, this week.”