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Track and field
Top Midwest competition awaits Hoosiers at ISU Quadrangular

There’s a different feel to Bloomington around this time every year. Students are looking forward to Little 500 week starting and classes ending.

But for the IU track and field team, this weekend will be another step in preparation toward the NCAA Championships in June. The team will be making the short trip to Terre Haute, Ind., Friday for the ISU Quadrangular meet against Michigan State, Indiana State and Southern Illinois.

This team-scored meet will have a familiar feel to the Hoosiers, who participated in a team-scored event last week, as well.

IU coach Ron Helmer explained the advantages to participating in meets with this style of scoring.

“It’s an opportunity to race in a competitive environment,” Helmer said. “It will put our kids in a situation where beating a person down the straightaway, no matter what you feel like, matters because it’s additional points for the team. So even some of our athletes who aren’t feeling their best can draw motivation from beating somebody and gaining more points for their team.”

Although this weekend is not a major event in terms of the entire outdoor season, senior Molly Beckwith agreed with Helmer that the team aspect will keep her running her best. She is competing in the 800-meter race this weekend, her best event.

“This weekend is a meet where I’m going to be relaxed, and I just want to run fast,” Beckwith said. “Being competitive is a big part of it, and if someone is out there pushing it, I’m going to be pushing it even harder to score points for my team.”

 — Avi Zaleon

Water polo
Women’s team hoping to finish strong in regular season

After a week out of action, the IU women’s water polo team will show their preparedness for the Collegiate Water Polo Association Western Division championship contest.

The No. 15 Hoosiers (17-6, 2-1 CWPA West) will travel to Tempe, Ariz., expecting to finish strong in their last two games of the regular season.

About competing with San Diego State University and Arizona State University — two teams ranked higher than IU in the 2010 CWPA Varsity Top 20 — IU Coach Barry King said he was looking for something particular.

“First off, we need a level of competition as we continue to work towards the postseason and be playing at our highest level,” King said. “Last couple of years, we felt like we have not provided the kind of competitive level we needed going into the championship season.”

King said it would be a perfect chance to prove to everybody that IU is “one of the best 10 teams in the country.”

With the regular season coming to an end, King said there were still things he expected to see.

“We are looking to see if we can continue doing the things we have been doing well, particularly in defense,” he said. King said other things they are looking to improve on at the end will be important for success in the championship, especially the power plays in the counterattacks.

The semester approaching the final period provides a tougher task for players, who must commit themselves to both classes and their games.

“This is a very difficult time of the year as people have finals and papers,” King said. “We are talking about getting our work done early beforehand.” However, King said because the players have been preparing for this situation since the beginning of the season, it will not bother much.

The Hoosiers have enjoyed one week without games since playing the University of Michigan on April 3. King said he did not worry about their physical condition for the rest of the season.

“It’s necessarily a matter of staying in game-shape but getting a little rest and rejuvenate,” he said. “It’s a long year from the begin to the end, so sometimes you need to downshift.”
 — Kevin Wang

Men’s tennis
Hoosiers set for Big Ten’s best

The numbers are gaudy for the Ohio State men’s tennis team: 106 consecutive regular-season home wins, 17 straight wins this season, nine shutout victories and a top-5 ranking.

As the No. 41 Hoosiers (13-7, 3-3) prepare to take on the No. 5 and defending national runner-up Buckeyes (22-1, 6-0) Friday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio, they will do so knowing the odds are stacked against them. After all, IU hasn’t beaten Ohio State since 2000.

IU coach Randy Bloemendaal, however, is not fazed. He’s more worried about his team than he is about the opponent. If his players get their minds right, Bloemendaal said, and think they can win, then they have the potential to upset the Buckeyes.

“I think we’ve known for a long time that we’re almost there,” the third-year coach said. “We’re going to have to do some real soul-searching and figure out what it’s going to take to be there.

“To get a win against Ohio State, we need our upperclassmen to believe. I just keeping passing the ball to them and saying, ‘Look, when you believe, when you think we’re going to come through in those matches, we’ll come through.’ I really think that’s what it is. I don’t think it’s going to be a physical thing.”

An interesting matchup in the Ohio State match will come in No. 1 doubles, when IU’s 48th-ranked duo of junior Lachlan Ferguson and freshman Josh MacTaggart will face off against the Buckeyes’ 16th-ranked team of Dino Marcan and Chase Buchanan. Ferguson and MacTaggart knocked off Louisville’s No. 24 doubles team Wednesday.

The Hoosiers will close out the Big Ten road season by traveling to State College, Pa., on Sunday to challenge No. 62 Penn State.
 
— Justin Albers

Women’s golf
Hoosiers look to continue winning ways

Fresh off its first victory in more than two years, the IU women’s golf team will look to continue the momentum Saturday at the Lady Buckeye Invitational.

With nine Big Ten teams in the field this weekend in Columbus, Ohio, the Lady Buckeye Invitational will provide an early preview of what to expect at the Big Ten Championships.

Ohio State University is home to The Scarlett Course, which was renovated by golfing legend Jack Nicklaus in 2006 and will be the venue of this weekend’s Lady Buckeye Invitational.

“It is really a good golf course, and I tell the girls all the time, ‘think about who designed the golf course and that is how you have to play it,’” IU coach Clint Wallman said.  

A unique aspect of the Lady Buckeye Invitational is that all 12 teams in the field will be able to play six players, instead of the normal five, and count four toward their team score.

The scoring format will also be used at next weekend’s Big Ten Championships in Madison, Wisc.

Coming off finishes of fifth and first place respectively in its last two tournaments, IU will keep the same top five and add freshman Kate Coons to the lineup for the rest of the season.

Coons has been in and out of the lineup all season for the Hoosiers, and her final round 69 at the IU Invitational sealed her spot.

Seniors Laura Nochta and Kellye Belcher will once again play in the top two spots, the same positions they have held all season.

Freshman Pamela Burneski is coming off her best finish of the year, seventh place at the IU Invitational, and will play in the number three spot for the Hoosiers.

Fellow freshman and Canadian Jacqueline Yanch will be in the four spot for the last two tournaments, continuing her streak of playing in the lineup since October.

Adding experience to a lineup with three freshmen will be junior Lauren Gieseckie. The Kokomo, Ind., native has played in the last two tournaments for the Hoosiers and also played in the Lady Buckeye Invitational last year.

Wallman said he feels this lineup is peaking at the right time and needs to continue to eliminate three putts and pay attention to detail.

With the Kentucky Derby rapidly approaching, Wallman threw in a horse racing reference in describing his lineup to close out the season.

“I am not going to switch it out — these are our ponies and we are going to saddle up,” Wallman said.  

 — Kevin Bowen

Women’s tennis
After close Big Ten loss, IU looks to rebound against Penn State, Ohio State

After a narrow loss to Iowa last weekend, the IU women’s tennis team looks to rebound with a pair of matches in as many days this weekend.

In the first tilt, a Saturday match at 11 a.m., the Hoosiers will be heavy favorites against Penn State, whose record sits at 4-14. The Hoosiers have not faced an opponent with a losing record in several weeks.

Sunday will likely bring a much more competitive match when Ohio State comes to Bloomington. The No. 33 Buckeyes have a slight edge over the No. 38 Hoosiers in this week’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll.

“The second match should be pretty much a tossup,” IU coach Lin Loring said. “They’re ranked ahead of us nationally, but we’ve got some similar results against opponents. It’s just going to come down to the individual matchups.”

Winning close matches has been a signature feature for the Hoosiers all season. The Iowa loss was the first match of the year with a one-point margin that IU has lost.

Loring said he believes playing on their home court may give the team the edge they need this weekend to bounce back and pull an upset on the team’s Senior Day.
Still, he said, last week’s loss stung.

“That was a tough one, because it would have really jumped us in the rankings, and it pretty much would have assured us getting into the NCAA tournament.”

— Max McCombs


Rowing
IU takes to permanent track in Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships

The IU women’s rowing team will leave the friendly confines of Lake Lemon in order to compete in the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships set to take place April 17-18 in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Joining the Hoosiers will be a wealth of talented squads, including No. 1 overall Virginia.

“We want to go out there and respect everyone, but row our own race,” said senior Emily Kasavana. “It’s a good opportunity for us to get out there and get used to different water. In a few of the formats, we will be the No. 1 seed, so teams will be gunning for us.”

The first race IU is to compete in is on Saturday, where they are the No. 1 seed in their heat and taking on the likes of Jacksonville, Oklahoma, Alabama and Southern Methodist.

Later that day, they will face Alabama and SMU once again, as well as Florida and Tulsa. In contrast to many courses IU has rowed this year, Oak Ridge has a permanent track, which bodes well for those who have been there before. Luckily, sophomore Alex Burkle grew up in Roswell, Ga., and has seen the course on a number of occasions.

“I raced this course in high school,” said Burkle. “The biggest obstacle is rowing our own race and sticking to our game plan. Throughout practices this week, we’ve been building on what we think our weaknesses are and going from there, and I think that really helps.”
 
— Kyle Abrell