Men’s 4x100 relay team heads to NCAA Outdoor Championship

The IU 4x100-meter relay had one goal coming into the NCAA East Preliminary Round: qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships from June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa.

On Saturday, in front of their home crowd at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex, freshman Tyler Sult, junior Kind Butler, sophomore Chris Vaughn and senior Devin Pipkin finally accomplished what they have been striving for.

“We were just trying to get our ticket to Iowa. We’ve been working on this all season, we got our hand off swipe, finally,” Butler said. “We opened up our shame zone, and we wanted it so bad that we got it.”

They earned their ticket for the national championship, and they did it with the manner.
The quartet finished first in its heat and ran its best time of the season, posting a time of 39.68 seconds. The time is just .06 of a second behind the school record.

By winning their heat, the 4x100 team automatically earned their qualification for the national meet, being the first team to accomplish this performance since 1992.
“This is an indescribable feeling,” Butler said. “We worked so hard for this. It’s like waking up Christmas morning and expecting a present.”

IU’s track and field program has been more recognized for its distance performance throughout the years. Thus for the 4x100 team, it meant a lot to qualify in an event where they have not been expected as much.

“We’re just trying to put IU sprint back on the map,” Sult said. “We’ve got a lot of sprinters around here, so we’re trying to make a name for IU.”
IU coach Ron Helmer agreed the qualification proved IU sprinting is developing a reputable program.

“Schools become known for being good in a certain event area. IU has a great history, and a very lengthy history, and for the 4x100 to run the second fastest time, to almost break the school record...in a program like this, it sends a message that we’re not just interested in one area,” Helmer said.

“For a school in a kind of cold weather country, to have that level sprinters, I think more than anything it gets our program and our athletes respected because they are performing well against very good athletes, in multiple event areas.”

The 4x100 athletes described the team’s close relationship as their key to success.
“We’re like brothers,” Butler said. “We hang out, we play video games, we eat the same food, and we just became a family.”

IU associate coach Jeff Huntoon has seen that in his national-qualifying team on a daily basis.

“This is a group that just stuck together from day one,” Huntoon said. “They never had any downs with one another, and they’ve just been so supportive with one another.
“Collectively, they’ve all done the job and they did it so well and before you know it, you get something like that.”

Another key has been their hard work and the confidence they have had in themselves.

“Every day, we’re coming out here to practice, telling each other, we got this, we’re getting it,” Sult said. “We’re making outrageous claims that we’re going to be the best in the world, and we were pretty confident.”

Huntoon expressed hope that the team would end its run in Iowa the way the 1992 qualifying unit did: place.

“There’s no question that the world is out, and it’s neat now, because all the events are clicking,” Huntoon said. “It’s a special group, and that group placed at nationals, and that’s the goal for us now.”