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Wrestling
No. 5 Minnesota too much for Hoosiers

Upending No. 5 Minnesota (11-4, 6-0) was not in the cards for the No. 14 Hoosiers (13-3, 2-3) on Saturday night at Bloomington High School South.
The 23-18 defeat dropped the Hoosiers below .500 in the Big Ten with three matches remaining.

The only lead the Hoosiers would have all day was after No. 1 senior Angel Escobedo won by forfeit at 125 lbs. The forfeit came at the hands of an injured No. 6 Zachary Sanders, whom Escobedo defeated en route to his first-place finish at the Southern Scuffle.

While Escobedo’s day was easy, the same cannot be said for most of the Hoosiers. The Gophers grabbed wins at 133 lbs., 141 lbs., 149 lbs., and 157 lbs. to give them a 16-6 lead at the halfway point.

“I would like to see our guys have that same second- and third-period intensity in the first,” junior Paul Young said.

Just when the Hoosiers appeared to be out of it, they got a huge lift from one of the hometown kids. No. 12 Young stepped up to the occasion on his home mat, just like he did as a two-time state champion at Bloomington South.

Young got Minnesota’s Cody Yohn on his back early and after numerous attempts, he was able to get the pin with 14 seconds left in the first.

“It was encouraging for me to do it in front of the hometown crowd,” Young said. “It was just awesome.”

The team-leading 12th pin for Young got the crowd on its feet and made a big cut into the Gophers 10-point lead.

But with senior Trevor Perry injured at 174 lbs., freshman Ryan Konz would have to jump up a weight class to take on Minnesota’s No. 8 Scott Glasser in his Big Ten debut.

Konz kept Glasser at a 12-4 defeat, which kept the Hoosier team in control of its own destiny. At 12-20 with three matches remaining, three decisions for the Hoosiers would have been enough for a big win.

Junior Eric Cameron notched a pivotal 3-1 win in overtime against Minnesota’s Kaleb Young. Cameron’s second Big Ten win added a little more to the Hoosiers’ upset bid.
Wrestling his first match since getting back into the national rankings at 197 lbs., No. 13 sophomore Matt Powless needed a win to keep the Hoosiers’ chances alive.

Powless nearly got Minnesota’s No. 10 Sonny Yohn on his back in the first period but could not record the pin. Yohn then took control of the match and scored a series of takedowns on Powless. Powless made several attempts to shoot but came up empty.
The 8-2 loss made the team score 23-15, securing the win for the Gophers.

While the match was statistically over, No. 2 heavyweight senior Nate Everhart still had something to prove.

The undefeated senior avenged two losses from last season to Ben Berhow, recording a 7-3 victory. The win over Berhow strengthens Everhart’s case for the nation’s most improved wrestler.

While Everhart’s win ended the night on a positive note, coach Goldman said he knows his team cannot overlook losing four matches to start the day.

“We fell in a point hole early, and we really stung ourselves, which sealed their victory,” Goldman said.

-Connor O'Gara


Women's tennis
IU splits weekend, falls to defending champs

The No. 1 team in the country and defending national champion versus a team missing two of its six starters sounds like a mismatch.

Saturday’s match between IU and Duke University proved to be the case.
The IU women’s tennis team entered the match undefeated, despite having never been at full-strength in the spring season due to injuries. The Blue Devils, however, boasted a healthy line-up with three individually ranked players and promptly handed the Hoosiers its first loss, 0-7.

In doubles play, an area in which the No. 49 Hoosiers have shown recent improvement, the Blue Devils won all three matches. The closest match was in No. 3 doubles, where juniors Katya Zapadalova and Maria Guerreiro lost 5-8 to the opposing team of Jessica Stiles and Monica Gorny.

The Hoosiers fared no better in singles, dropping all six matches in straight sets. Duke’s top singles player Reka Zsilinszka, ranked No. 20 in the country, was especially dominant, winning 6-0, 6-0 in No. 1 singles against IU sophomore Evgeniya Vertesheva.

Not every match was so one-sided.

Freshman Leslie Hureau hung with No. 91 Ellah Nze in the first set of their No. 2 singles match before falling 5-7 and subsequently dropping the second set 0-6. Zapadalova lost 4-6, 2-6 to Gorny in No. 4 singles.

The team’s weekend in North Carolina did not end with the defeat to Duke. On Sunday, the team faced off in Winston-Salem with No. 46 Wake Forest, coming away with a win.

The Hoosiers had an advantage from the start of the match as the Demon Deacons were forced to forfeit No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles due to injuries. The Hoosiers, by contrast, enjoyed the unexpected return of Charlotte Martin from a wrist injury she has struggled with since early October. She played No. 5 singles.

In doubles, senior captain Lindsey Stuckey teamed with Vertesheva to win 8-2 and clinch the doubles point for IU. With Wake Forest’s forfeit of No. 6 singles, the Hoosiers had a 2-0 lead heading into actual singles play.

The lead was quickly challenged, however, as the Demon Deacons took the first set in four of the five singles matches. Hureau and Vertesheva both dropped their second sets to lose their matches, knotting the team score at 2-2.

But the Hoosiers fought back.

Martin, in her unexpected return, dominated in a third set to win her match 3-6, 7-6, 6-1. Minutes later, junior Myriam Sopel, IU’s lone first set winner, won a long second set of her No. 3 singles match to win 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the match. Stuckey closed out her match in three sets 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to clinch a 5-2 slight upset win for IU.

-Max McCombs

Track and field
Hoosiers continue record-setting pace

IU made the track at the Meyo Invitational its home away from home on Friday and Saturday.

The Hoosiers competed in their first road meet of the season with the IU throwers going to Southern Illinois University and the remainder of the team competing at the Meyo Invitational at the University of Notre Dame.

Senior Molly Beckwith, who set an IU record in the 800 meter during last year’s Meyo Invitational, experienced similar success this year.

Beckwith broke an NCAA automatic qualifying time and school record, running the 800 meter in 2:04.50. However, her accomplishments at Meyo were not limited to individual events.

Beckwith and her teammates, graduate student Wendi Robinson, sophomore Jordan Gray and freshman Arianne Raby, shattered the previous IU women’s distance medley relay record by more than four seconds with a time of 11:17.06.

“It’s definitely the fastest, most talented DMR team we’ve ever had,” Beckwith said. “But I still think we could have run just a few seconds faster.”

In addition to the DMR, Robinson earned a provisional qualifying time in the 3,000-meter after finishing in 9:26.55. Her teammates won a pair of events with senior Ashley Rhoades beating out the competition in the women’s high jump and senior Sarah Pease in the 5000-meter run. Pease won the race with a time of 16:35.75, good enough for her first NCAA qualifying mark.

Despite these victories, the team still felt the 233 mile distance from Bloomington to South Bend.

“The energy of the meet was pretty inconsistent,” Beckwith said. “There was no noise in there at times.”

IU coach Ron Helmer agreed the energy throughout the meet wasn’t what the Hoosiers have grown accustomed to.

“I didn’t feel that the energy level that we’ve gotten used to was there,” Helmer said. “But that’s the danger of splitting your team.”

-Avi Zaleon

Men's swimming and diving
Hoosiers fall to rival Purdue

In the final dual meet of the season, the No. 25 IU men’s swimming and diving team lost to No. 18 Purdue.

The Hoosiers could not capitalize on last week’s momentum against Louisville, as the distance swimmers struggled.

The lack of production surprised IU coach Ray Looze because of how well they had done just a week previously.

“I think it was more the way they raced,” Looze said. “They were being conservative.”

IU did have a few bright spots, including an outstanding meet from junior Titus Knight.

He won three individual events: the 100, 200 and 500-freestyle. Knight also had a major contribution in the 400-freestyle relay.

The Hoosiers also had breakout meets from underclassmen.

“We had some our freshman really step up and perform well,” Looze said. “Some of the guys in our freshman class are really starting to come around.”

Now the team must focus on its most important time of the year, the Big Ten Championships. The men have two weeks to prepare for the meet before traveling to the event in Columbus, Ohio.

“We are focused on putting together a comprehensive effort,” Looze said. “We are getting closer and closer to doing that.”