O’Connor, who earned two gold medals in the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, said that her performance was the result of a year’s worth of training preparation.

“I knew that I had to lay it all down,” she said. “This year is beyond what I expected, and coming into regionals I’m definitely looking forward to exactly what I can do and how hard I can push my body.”

Director of track and field Walt Drenth said the team’s solid performances at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships bode well as it prepares for the NCAA East Regional.

“We had a number of people do great jobs, and it’s part of being a team,” Drenth said. “Right now, our women are ranked 24th in the country and we think we have a shot with (O’Connor) and Beth and Tori Franklin and Ashley Stacey and probably even a couple other kids. And if they can score, it’ll give us a chance to be in the top 15, maybe top 10 in the nationals.”

O’Connor noted that regionals are different from the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, and require a stronger individual effort. The format for the tournament was adjusted in 2010, and now puts a stronger focus on individual performance as the top 48 student-athletes from the East and West are ranked in descending order. The top 12 qualifiers from each side advance to the championship finals.

“I’m not putting a lot of pressure on myself to throw out some really amazing performance,” O’Connor said. “I’m just trying to get myself through the nationals and just keeping my legs under me, just preparing.”

Drenth said that it’s important that the team keeps its momentum. He believes that the strength of the Big Ten has the team well prepared for national-level competition.

“A lot of people that we competed against last week will be in these meets,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons why you come to a Big Ten Conference school. It offers you that opportunity to surround yourself with the top people around the country. You go to a national-level meet and you feel pretty comfortable.”

Most of all, Drenth stressed that the emphasis is for the team to be themselves.

“That’s the most important thing,” he said. “Doing the things that have worked for us all year. If we follow that philosophy, I think we’ll be pretty good.”