This weekend, the Hoosiers to compete in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Invitational at Arizona State.
The NCAA Championship marked the end of the indoor track season but now, just a few weekends later, the Big Ten/Pac-12 Invitational begins the outdoor season and last portion of the track season.
“We want to keep getting better as we go into outdoor season," IU Coach Ron Helmer said. "We finished one point out of fourth place in the Big Ten Championship which is a big jump from where we have been in prior years.”
The women’s team is coming off a successful Big Ten Championship, placing in fifth overall.
Just after conference finale, the women of the distance medley relay team traveled to compete in the NCAA Championship and would have become All-Americans if they could have placed eighth or above in the event. After dropping the baton mid-race the women were not able to pull it off and returned to Bloomington without any of the accolades they had hoped to receive.
“I think they are definitely still feeling the sting of that," Helmer said. "We didn’t handle that environment properly. With two laps left we were ready to take the lead and run for a national championship in that distance medley, so I’m sure it still stings for them and they’ll feel that for a long time. But they still have lots of running in front of them and hopefully we’ll get a chance to compete in the NCAA meet again.”
Helmer said this is a good meet to get back into racing after what occurred at the NCAA Championship. This meet is supposed to be a friendly and fun meet where the Big Ten collectively will compete against the Pac-12. Helmer said it is just for conference bragging rights and a good way to ease into the outdoor season.
“They are really excited about getting into this warm weather for a change and have a chance to get on the outdoor track and start competing again,” Helmer said. “I expect them to continue growing and to accomplish even more things, and I think that’s what we will see.”
