MERRILLVILLE | After hosting an AAU cross country meet in 1994, Hammond Track Club president Joe Mis gave an AAU official a more comprehensive tour of the Region.

The tour included Merrillville High School, I-65 and the Radisson Hotel.

"Then we made our bid for the AAU National Indoor Track Championships," Mis said. "We showed them the housing, the access from the expressway ... the total package."

In 1996, the bid was honored.

"We had 98 athletes for our first meet," Mis said.

In 2002, the meet was a minivan short of 1,000 athletes.

"Then they split it up," Mis said -- now there's the Northern Indoor Track Championship, which is taking place this weekend at MHS, and a Southern Championship, which will take place in Knoxville, Tenn. next week.

Despite its heading, the Northern Championship attracts teams for north, south, east and west.

"All parts of the country," Mis said. "But since then (2002), we've had over 700 athletes here once and about 580 for this one."

Mis wants the numbers to go up again. And this is where he gets outspoken.

"I've been telling people around here that this area needs the type of facility that holds a 200-yard track instead of a 160," he said. "We need a place that has two jump pits instead of one.

"My goal before I die is to help get something like that here. If not, this area is going to lose a lot."

Among the local clubs participating, the Merrillville Track Club got off to an early start.

"We may not have a lot of athletes," MTC head coach David Neville said. "But when it comes to getting medals, we do quite well."

Andrew Milenkovski is one example. His time of 51.79 in the 400 dash paced all Young Men competitors.

And then there's Neville's daughter, Rebecca, who won the Girls Intermediate pentathlon on Friday evening.

"It's the first time I tried (the pentathlon)," Rebecca said. "I do all those events, anyway."

One of those events is the long jump. On Saturday, Rebecca won the long jump. But her distance (16 feet, 4 inches) was nearly eight inches shy of what she did in the pentathlon.

"I couldn't get my steps down," Rebecca said. "I was popping 18 feet, but I was taking off short of the board."