10 Hoosier athletes to compete in NCAA Indoor Championships

After months of preparation, qualified Hoosier track and field athletes will be heading to Boise, Idaho, for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Qualified athletes from across the country will descend upon the Jackson Indoor Track for the two-day event.

The Hoosiers have 10 athletes competing, all of whom are men. Headlining for Indiana will be senior distance runner Andrew Bayer, who will compete in the one-mile run, 3,000 meters and the distance medley relay.

Also making the trip to Boise are senior Kind Butler in the 60 meters, 200 meters and 4x400 relay; senior Ben Hubers in the 3,000 meters; senior Andrew Poore in the 5,000 meters; sophomore Darius King in the high jump and senior Olu Olamigoke in the triple jump.

Other participants include junior Chris Vaughn in the 4x400 relay and distance medley relay; seniors De’Sean Turner and Danny Stockberger in the distance medley relay; and freshman Nick Stoner and senior Ryan Hindes in the 4x400 relay.

However, IU Coach Ron Helmer said he does not have a vested interest in any particular event.

“You never know which one is going to have a chance,” he said. “I am excited about all of them. There is not one singular event that I will pay more attention to over others.”

The men’s 4x400 ran a school-record time of 3:07.84 at the Alex Wilson Invitational this past weekend, and Helmer said that relay will be a vital part of IU's chances.

“Having a 4x400 in at the end of a meet with a chance to get us a couple more points that might affect the team standings would be pretty cool,” Helmer said. “We’re going to have to beat four groups that have run faster than us in order to give ourselves a chance to score, so that by itself is a fairly large challenge.”

The 4x400 group itself is quite diverse, but Helmer said he receives more satisfaction from the diversity of the entire group headed to Boise.

The Hoosiers have a sprinter, two field event athletes and a plethora of distance runners representing Indiana at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

“We have jumpers, sprinters and distance runners, and the only thing we’re missing is throwers,” Helmer said. “But all three of those areas are being represented and represented well. We’re not just a distance team, not just a jumps team, not just a sprint team. We’re fairly well-rounded.”

Helmer’s squad would not be so well-rounded had it not been for the efforts of Assistant Coach Jeff Huntoon, who was recently named the Great Lakes Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

Bayer earned Track Athlete of the Year, and Helmer earned Head Coach of the Year accolades.

“There is no doubt that something special happened in here during the indoor season,” Huntoon said. “I’m not going to lie to you. It’s neat to get acknowledged for it.”

Huntoon said he is focused on preparing his athletes for the NCAA Championships, though. He has been preaching normalcy, as the coaching staff is not placing added significance on the NCAA meet.

“For Indiana’s philosophy on it, it’s just a normal meet,” Huntoon said. “We’re going to treat this wee like that, also.”