IU qualifies 7 for regionals, wins 10 events at Alabama Relays

While most people were asleep in their beds during the wee hours of Monday morning, a large group of student-athletes were not. \nThe IU track and field team’s bus did not pull into Bloomington until about 8 a.m. Monday after returning from competition at the Alabama Relays in Tuscaloosa, Ala., this weekend. \nThough tired from the four days of competition and frustrated by bus failures that led to the team’s late return, senior Kiwan Lawson said he was pleased with how the meet went overall. \n“Everybody had some nice, solid performances,” he said. “I can’t say it was one person, everyone did a great job.”\nAfter skipping the indoor season, Lawson competed in four events during the Alabama meet, and was excited to wear an IU jersey once again. \n“The main thing I enjoyed was being part of the team and showing people what I’m capable of doing,” he said.\nIn addition to being part of the winning teams in the 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter relays, Lawson competed in both the 200-meter dash and the long jump event, recording a regional qualifying jump of 7.55 meters in the later. \nLawson’s teammate and fellow jumper senior Kyle Jenkins also performed well during the weekend with a regional qualifying mark in the triple jump of 15.67 meters. \nLawson and Jenkins were not the only ones to achieve regional qualifying marks, which are needed to compete in the regional to advance to nationals. Freshman distance runner Ben Hubers, who also did not compete for IU during the indoor season, placed third in the 1500-meter event in 3:45.71, beating the regional standard of 3:47.8. \nIU coach Ron Helmer said he thinks Hubers is one of IU’s finest athletes on his track team. \n“He is very talented, trains well and loves to compete,” Helmer said.\nThe men’s team also finished well in the sprinting events, something Helmer said might have surprised the other teams at the meet. \nSenior Marcus Thigpen posted a regional qualifying mark of 10.47 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Thigpen’s time is just .03 seconds from being fourth all-time in IU’s record books.\nJunior Will Glover also finished in the top ten in the 100-meter dash, finishing seventh in 10.73 seconds.\n“This was good for my first actual meet outdoors,” \nGlover said. \nThe men’s team wasn’t the only Hoosier squad that performed well at the Alabama Relays. The women’s team featured some impressive individual performances, including one from a freshman pole vaulter setting yet another school record.\nFresh off of setting the indoor school record earlier this year, freshman Stephanie Chin vaulted 4.15 meters in Alabama to claim the school’s outdoor record as well. The previous record was held by Chin’s teammate, sophomore Vera Neuenswander, who had a mark of 4.12 meters in 2007. \nBoth Chin and Neuenswander, along with senior Courtney Johnson, who finished second in the 100-meter hurdles, recorded regional qualifying marks during the meet. \nOverall, the Hoosiers won 10 events and qualified seven athletes for NCAA regional \ncompetition.\nNext up on the schedule for the Hoosiers is the Stanford Invite in Palo Alto, Calif. IU will send select athletes to the Invite and others to Austin for the Texas Relays.