Last chance starts today

This weekend is the last chance for track and field athletes to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. With the cancellation of last weekend's Big Ten Championships because of the tragic death of Penn State pole vaulter Kevin Dare, only a few Hoosiers have met the marks required to get into nationals. \nTherefore, several men's IU track and field athletes will travel to two different venues this weekend in attempts to meet or beat the qualifying standards in their events. \nThe Cyclone National Track and Field Qualifier will play host to Hoosier sprinters, jumpers and throwers. Senior Wasyl Fedoriw represents the throwers this weekend, as he tries to beat the weight throw standard. He has qualified provisionally but needs to be in the top 16 to make the cut. \nThe sprinters heading into the meet are sophomore Ryan Sarbinoff and freshman UnRico Lloyd. Sarbinoff will attempt to make the mark in the 200-meter dash, and Lloyd will compete in the 60-meter dash. \nLloyd will also participate, along with freshman Aarik Wilson, in the long jump. Lloyd won the long jump at the Big Ten Championships last weekend, which was completed Saturday before the meet was canceled. He would have earned a qualifying mark on his first jump but scratched. \n"I am hoping, if I can stay within myself and not try to go out and be a hero, then I can qualify," Lloyd said.\nThe other event men's track and field athletes will attend is the Notre Dame Last Chance Qualifier. This event lets the distance runners, hurdlers and pole vaulters receive their final opportunity to reach the NCAA Championships. \nJunior Matt Harris and sophomore Micah Harvey will each attempt to qualify in the 60-meter hurdle field. Harris and Harvey both need to break the school record to get into nationals. Seniors Dino Efthimiou and Ian Curry have their hands full in the pole vault. Junior Chris Powers has qualified in the 5000-meters, and juniors Chad Andrews and Bart Phariss will try to join him. The Notre Dame track is 320-meters around, which should lower times a little because there will be less turns.\n"If we have a good day then it is possible," Andrews said. "It is supposed to be real fast, one of the fastest races of this season."\nLast season, the Hoosiers only qualified one athlete for the championships, and that was Efthimiou. This year, several Hoosiers have already qualified, and this weekend there is the potential for 11 more qualifiers. The program is returning to the national level that it used to frequent.\n"We got some people who can make a little noise (on the national level)," Coach Marshall Goss said. "We haven't made any noise in the past (few years), and we are going to start making some noise"