This season The Summit League is celebrating its 30th Anniversary as a league. Eastern Illinois was a founding member of that conference and had three former athletes selected to the All-Time Greats list. Below is an article by Steve Newton on former EIU track star Jim Maton. For more information on The Summit League's 30th Anniversary visit this link
It has been said that the body can deal with just about anything, it is the mind that decides when you are ready to quit. But, as an athlete, when your body is fighting the effects of asthma, it makes it very difficult to put mind over matter.
Eastern Illinois University alumnus Jim Maton can attest to how the debilitating condition can inhibit your breathing ability, making it difficult for your body to gather much needed oxygen during competition. The two-time NCAA Indoor Track and Field All-American and 1988 NCAA Indoor National Champion in the 800 meters, battled exercise induced asthma for most of his running career. However, Maton overcame the odds to become one of the greatest track and field athletes in The Summit League's 30-year history.
As part of The Summit League's 30th Anniversary Season in 2011-12, Maton was recognized as one of the league's Top 30 Distinguished Contributors. His selection to that elite list was not surprising given that Maton was the first of four individuals in Summit League history to win a National Championship.
Growing up in Shelbyville, Ill., just 36 miles southwest of Eastern Illinois' campus in Charleston, Maton admits he was not entirely focused on running until very late in his high school career. Running was something he did for fun and it was during his senior year in high school when he realized lacing up the running shoes could earn him a college scholarship.
Maton's natural talent earned him more than a college scholarship, it helped him become The Summit League's and EIU's first NCAA Division I National Champion and paved his way to the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, Ind.
In 1987, during his junior season at EIU, Maton finished second in the 1,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships, losing by a few strides to LSU's Rob Van Helden. The following year at the NCAA Indoor National Championships, Maton took the title in the 800 meters, defeating a very strong field that included Kenyan Paul Ereng, who went on to win a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics Games.
"I would say the key to my national championship victory in 1988 was simply the knowledge I gained from the previous year's 1,000-meter race," he said. "I knew if you had the lead with a few laps to go, it was extremely difficult for your fellow competitors to catch you. The indoor track at Oklahoma City where we ran was only 160 meters and the corners were very tight. In 1988, I wanted to make sure that I was in the lead with at least a lap and a half to go."
Maton was a three-time Summit League, then known as the Mid-Continent Conference, Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year award winner and a seven-time indoor event champion. His national championship victory and four NCAA All-America honors added national recognition to his collegiate track resume. Two of his All-America awards came in the 800-meter race at the 1987 and 1988 NCAA Track and Field Outdoor National Championships when he placed third and seventh, respectively.
"To this day, I am very happy that I ran at Eastern Illinois," Maton said. "It meant a lot to leave school as a national champion and an All-American in the sport I loved. Coming from such a small school like Eastern and getting the opportunity to compete against powerhouses like LSU, Indiana and Arkansas, which had the ability to go out and offer full scholarships to the top athletes in the country, was a great experience."
Twenty-four years after Maton's storied career came to an end at EIU, the kid who battled exercise induced asthma, still ranks second in the league's all-time record books with his seven event titles and two records at The Summit League's indoor championships.
