Two carry IU to 8th place finish

The men's track and field team put on an impressive performance at Fayetteville, Ark., over spring break with a ninth place team finish at the NCAA Championships. The team, which competed March 14-15, was able to place in the top 10 with 19 points despite only sending two athletes to the meet. The Hoosiers finished second among Big Ten schools, only two points behind Minnesota. The NCAA Championships were an improvement over the Big Ten Championships on March 1-2 where the team placed fifth.\n"On the men's and women's side together we brought down five athletes and everyone preformed third or better in at least one of their events," coach Marshall Goss said. "We are very excited with our team finishes as well. We are also very excited with what can happen outdoors coming off of this."\nArkansas captured the victory in the meet with 52 points, dominating second place Auburn, which only had 28 points.\nThe Hoosiers competed with sophomores Aarik Wilson and John Jefferson.\nWilson captured a sixth place finish in the long jump the first day of competition. He entered the meet ranked 13th in the event, but a personal record of 7.88 meters earned Wilson sixth place.\nSaturday, Wilson competed in the triple jump, his best event. Wilson shattered the school record on his way to a second place finish in the meet with a jump of 16.99 meters. In last year's indoor championships, Wilson finished fourth in the event and came into this year's meet ranked fourth. Wilson's jump broke Robert Cannon's school record, which had stood for over 20 years, by over a foot.\nJefferson also exceeded the expectations of the seedings. Jefferson relied on luck to make his way into the meet with 11 runners ranked ahead of him dropping out of the mile to run a different event. After scratches, Jefferson dropped from being ranked 25th to 14th. The event only takes 15 runners. \n"It shouldn't have been a question of us having to wait for those scratches," distance coach Robert Chapman said. "I think he knows he's a major player."\nJefferson was an All-American in the mile last year for the indoor season and also won the Big Ten Championships in the event. He was also the Big Ten's freshman of the year for the cross-country season.\nThe race had a slow pace, as Jefferson said he expected. He spent much of the race at the back of the lead pack. He remained in around ninth place, until the final lap when he started his kick. Jefferson was able to explode and outsprint Luke Watson from Notre Dame to earn the national runner-up title with a time of 4:06.46. Watson ran a 4:06.48.\nNow the team will gear for an outdoor season for which the coaches have high expectations. Goss said he expects the team to be competitive for a Big Ten title.\nThe first meet of the outdoor season will be March 28-29 at the Florida Relays in Gainsville, Fla.