Hoosiers fall short of defending title

WEST LAFAYETTE - The women's track and field team could have successfully defended its 2000 Big Ten title Saturday and Sunday at Lambert Fieldhouse. Instead, the Hoosiers faltered to third behind Purdue's 108 points and Ohio State's 97 -- within 19 points of stealing the championship from the Boilermakers.\n"When you see the score, the score of this meet is ridiculous," coach Randy Heisler said. "We score another 20 points, and we win the meet. Twenty is nothing when you have that number of athletes who could have scored."\nHeisler brought 24 athletes to the championship, but only 10 scored in individual events. Six Hoosiers scored 70 points. IU's only winners were Senior Lorraine Dunlop in the 60-meter dash and sophomore Tandra Foster in the long jump.\n"This is really disappointing as a team, because I think we took 14 girls to Ohio State two years ago and finished third," Heisler said. "This team has an incredible amount of talent, but it simply didn't show up today in a number of event areas."\nWhile the Hoosiers struggled overall, Dunlop, sophomores Rachelle Boone and Danielle Carruthers racked up 41 points in three sprint events. The three sprinters qualified for the finals of the 60-meter dash, and Boone and Dunlop qualified for the 200-meter dash finals.\nIn the 60-meter dash, officials met near the finish line to confirm the winner after a close race. After a few minutes, Dunlop's name shone as the champion on the fieldhouse's TV screen, and she ran in a circle pumping her fist. She won in 7.37 seconds, with Boone in second at 7.38 seconds and Ohio State All-American Donica Merriman in third.\n"Adrenaline was rushing and I was ready to go," said Dunlop, who also placed fifth in the 200-meter dash. "I knew that as long as I did everything I was supposed to do, there was no reason I shouldn't win. I'm glad my teammate came in second as well."\nBoone also placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.13, only three one-hundreths of a second behind Merriman. Carruthers placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.23, behind Merriman and Illinois' Perdita Felicien. Merriman's time is a Big Ten record and the fastest time in the nation this year.\nIn the long jump, Foster and sophomore Rose Richmond finished first and second, respectively. Foster's leap of 20 feet-1-inch is a provisional NCAA qualifying mark and the fourth-best long jump in IU history. She won the event despite a quad injury.\n"It hurts when I'm running the board, so I knew I needed to go out there and do it in the beginning," Foster said. "So my best jump was actually my first jump."\nWhen senior Jenn Brown dominated the shot put with a Big Ten record last year, she was the Hoosiers only individual champion when they won the conference team title with a record 150 points. This year, she placed third behind Minnesota's Aubrey Schmitt and Ohio State's Alexis McCall in the shot put and finished fifth in the weight throw.\n"Jenn threw OK," Heisler said. "Jenn threw as well as she's thrown all year. The girl from Ohio State threw a (personal record), and the girl from Minnesota threw a season best, and Jenn ended up third. In weight throw, she threw it like she's thrown it all season."\nJunior Tia Trent, who was seeded first in the 400-meter dash, faded to fifth in the finals. The Hoosiers scored only seven points in five middle- and long-distance events, with junior Stephanie Magley taking sixth in the 800-meter run and freshman Lauren Weddell placing fifth in the mile.\n"There were nine events where we scored 9.5 points," Heisler said. "That's a lot of athletes and a lot of events that we didn't show up in"