Sherrill sets school shot put record in opener

On Wednesday, IU track and field coach Ron Helmer asked his team for its best effort.

But on Saturday, Helmer got more than mere effort from his team during the season opener in Bloomington.

IU won 17 events, with four Hoosiers posting season-high marks in Division I and five achieving NCAA provisional qualifications.

Redshirt junior Faith Sherrill threw a 16.70m toss, breaking an 18-year-old school record by 37 centimeters. This throw also broke her personal record of 15.05m set in 2008.

“We expect those kind of results out of our best performers,” Helmer said. “And today we got them.”

Sophomore Derek Drouin cleared 2.24m in the men’s high jump, one centimeter shy of the IU record and 2.5 inches higher than his personal best from last season. Drouin’s NCAA automatic qualifying mark was also the highest in the country so far this season.

In addition to Drouin and Sherrill, seniors Jeff Coover and Molly Beckwith also posted new benchmarks in Division I this season.

Coover cleared an NCAA-best 5.36m in the pole vault, while Beckwith led all Indiana Open sprinters in the 800 meter run with a 2:06.78 time.

With these performances, the two seniors earned provisional qualifications in their respective events.

Helmer saw these individual achievements as progress for the entire team.

“I think today the freshmen had jitters and over thought things,” Helmer said. “The good thing is we have individuals with leadership to show the other guys how to go out there and do it. This was a great opener and a great beginning.”

The Hoosiers next meet is against in-state rival Purdue on Jan. 16 in Bloomington.