Runners progress on road to nationals

This weekend the men's track and field team competed with only a few athletes as it tried to qualify for the NCAA Championship meet next weekend at Fayetteville, Ark. Some athletes traveled north to Notre Dame while others headed west to Iowa State. The results included personal records from a number of athletes.\nThe highlight of the weekend was the performance of twin middle-distance runners Rodney and Russell Hollis. Both ran spectacular times as Rodney Hollis was able to earn the victory in the race.\nRodney Hollis finished with a 1:49.70 time while Russell Hollis was right behind with a 1:50.82.\n"It was a big breakthrough for them," coach Marshall Goss said. "However, I'm not sure if it was as big of a breakthrough as it is on paper because they have been working very hard."\nThe Hoosiers had another set of identical twins competing at Notre Dame. Sean and John Jefferson both earned personal records in the mile, with John earning the victory in the event. John Jefferson finished with a time of 4:03.03 and Sean Jefferson ran a 4:07.71. John Jefferson was on the bubble of earning a bid to the NCAA Championship meet and was hoping for faster competition to give him a better time for the season. He was an All-American in the event a year ago. \nSophomore Aarik Wilson competed in the long jump at Iowa State with hopes of a better provisional mark to earn him a trip to nationals. He has already secured his spot in the triple jump, currently sitting at fourth in the event. Wilson finished third in the long jump in the meet with a jump of 7.52. Goss said that the coaches expect Wilson to make the cut for the national meet.\nThe team also welcomed the return of junior sprinter Ryan Sarbinoff from injury. In his first meet since early February, he ran a season's best in the 200-meter race with a time of 21.54.\nNow the athletes still competing set their focus squarely on nationals. Wilson is the only athlete guaranteed a berth but the team has several others with their fingers crossed. Junior Mike Minton in the shot put, John Jefferson in the mile and Rodney Hollis in the 800-meter event all have hopes to qualify for the meet. \n"All we can do is wait," Goss said. "We won't know until Tuesday."\nGoss said the main purpose of the indoor season was to give the team momentum heading into the outdoor season. The team has done that to an extent with a fifth place finish at the Big Ten Championships last week, despite the fact that it was a team crippled from injury. This weekend was another building block for the outdoor season.\n"We've found that we're very versatile thanks to some of the breakthroughs we've had," Goss said. "We've got some latitude to go in a lot of different directions with some events"