IU builds confidence, sets career bests in Gladstein Invitational

The average person would be hard-pressed to find a connection between Kansas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan and Indiana. \nBut within the IU track team, such a connection exists.\nThe states represent the birthplaces of six IU coaches, and the coaching staff ranges in age from 23 to 60. Despite the evident differences on the staff, the coaches have been able to function as a cohesive unit. More importantly, they have been able to pass on that teamwork to their athletes.\nWith 10 IU men’s and women’s track and field athletes winning events and 38 setting career-bests in this weekend’s Gladstein Invitational, it would seem they are succeeding in their mission. \n“I couldn’t be happier with where we are at,” IU coach Ron Helmer said.\nThe invitational, which was an open meet, began on Friday and commenced on Saturday, with the first day of competition highlighted by the women’s 5000-meter run. \nThe race featured the student-teacher tandem of IU junior Wendy Robinson and IU assistant coach Rebecca Walter. Robinson ran with Walter, a former Big Ten cross country champion and six-time All-Big Ten honoree at Michigan. \nWalter ran in front of Robinson pacing her for a little over 4,000 meters. Walter than stepped off the track and let her student continue. Robinson continued right into the record books, recording a winning time of 16:16.23. The time was 1:18 faster than the second-place runner and good for third all-time at IU. Robinson also shattered the NCAA provisional qualifying time of 16:42 and was within eight seconds of the automatic standard. She is the first runner in the nation to post a qualifying mark in the event.\nIU had two other runners set career bests in the same race in addition to Robinson. IU sophomore Sarah Pease finished third with a career best of 17:39.03. Pease was followed by fellow teammate junior Kristina Trcka, who finished seventh with a career best of 18:17.69. \nRobinson, Pease and Trcka were not the only IU distance runners that had success in the meet. IU senior Lauren Keefe, who ran unattached, bested her previous mile time by 18 seconds, finishing third in 4:59.80. Keefe was followed by senior Maura Ratcliff who ran almost six seconds better than her previous time, finishing sixth in 5:01.85. Ratcliff attributed a lot of her and her teammate’s success this year to the coaching staff, despite their high expectations.\n“(Helmer) expects a lot of us because he knows we can do it,” she said. \nIU junior Martin Stephen admitted at first he did not like all the new coaches, but he has been more than happy with the way things have worked out.\n“These are the best coaches I’ve had since I’ve been in college,” he said. \nRatcliff also noted that the positive team atmosphere has helped out a lot, too. \n“Everyone is excited for the success of their teammates,” she said. “We are more aware of what people are doing, other than the people we work with every day.” \nOne of those teammates is multi-sport athlete senior Marcus Thigpen, the running back on the IU football team, who won the 60-meter dash despite only having practiced for a couple of weeks. \nThigpen, who compared running in football to running in track and field, said the difference is the temperature. He said it gets so hot running in football with all the pads weighing him down, but out on the track it almost feels like he’s naked. \nThigpen, along with teammate junior Molly Beckwith and many athletes on the team, are very happy with their new coaching staff.\n“Every workout the coaches are pushing us to our limit,” Beckwith said. “Our quality of work is much better.”