IU fails to meet goals in Relays

IU's track team showed its first signs of struggle this weekend as it competed against 16 other teams at the Hoosier Relays. \nThe increased level of competition weeded out the strongest IU competitors despite a lack of recognizable names in collegiate athletics. IU advanced to the finals in nine out of 15 events Saturday after a long night of preliminaries Friday for a total of four victories. \n"The team, overall, looked flat today with a few exceptions," coach Randy Heisler said, "But that is understandable with this being our first back-to-back competition of the season. Overall, I think it was a great meet with some good competition, and this will help us prepare for the Big Tens and the NCAAs."\nFor the first time in 2005, senior Ara Towns did not finish first place in the 60-meter dash. Carita Cole of Western Kentucky took the prize from Towns by just one hundredth of a second for a time of 7.64 seconds. \n"I don't feel bad (about the race) at all," Towns said, "Yesterday I came out and did what I had to do and today I was just a little tired but I have plenty more opportunities to improve." \nSophomore Stacey Clausing and senior Charlene Maddox finished first and fourth in the 400-meter dash.\nIU sent three representatives to the 600-meter dash finals but only two finished the race. Junior LaDonna Ray placed second with a time of 1:34.99, and freshman Nikki Peterson finished fourth with a time of 1:37.42. Sophomore Michele Huber did not finish the race. \nIn the 800-meter run, IU junior Larra Overton allowed Southeast Missouri State's Brooke Woodruff to take the early lead. Overton stayed right on her opponent's shoulder, pacing off her until the final stretch of the race when she sprinted to take the first-place finish with a time of 2:13.49. \nSophomore Courtney Johnson won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.45, and sophomore teammate Lorian Price placed third with a time of 8.72. Price would go on to finish third in the high jump with a final height of 5.76 meters.\nSophomores Lindsay Hattendorf and Kristen Whitezell placed second and third in the 3000-meter run with times of 10:09.29 and 10:21.36 respectively. \nThe 1,600-meter relay team of sophomore Michele Huber, Clausing, Maddox and Ray continued its dominance this season with another first-place finish with a time of 3:46.63, edging out Southern Illinois by just seven-hundredths of a second. \nThe fact that the Hoosier Relays was IU's first two-day meet is one way the athletes and coaches justify this weekend's results.\n"We had higher expectations than what we did today," junior high jumper Jean Schaffer said, "We're still training up to our meets for bigger results later at the Big Tens and NCAAs."\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Fischer at jpfische@indiana.edu.