Strong competition awaits team at Florida Relays

This weekend the IU track and field teams will travel to Gainesville, Fla., for the Pepsi Florida Relays. The three-day meet started Thursday and goes through Saturday, though no Hoosiers compete until Friday’s events.

Coming off an impressive weekend at the Texas Relays and Stanford Invitational, the Hoosiers will look to continue their momentum in the early part of the outdoor season.

“It’s going to be like all the rest of them, where our good kids will be really good and our developing kids are still going to be developing,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “It’s a chance for some of our young kids to get some experience and continue to grow.”

One of those young athletes is freshman sprinter Cornelius Strickland, who had an indoor season that culminated in scoring four points for the Hoosiers at the Big Ten Championship meet.

Strickland will be running four events, the 100-meter, 200-meter, 4x100-meter relay and 4x200-meter relay sprints, but he said he’s most looking forward to the 200-meter races.

“I feel like that’s more my event,” Strickland said. “I have long legs so I feel like once I get off the curve, I can open my legs and stand tall.”

With competition in Florida expected to be strong with additional teams from all across the country such as Texas, Southern California and Baylor bringing their best athletes, Strickland said he’s looking forward to the challenge.

“Lining up against people who I know are faster than me can bring the best out of me,” Strickland said. “It helps me be more competitive.”

Helmer said Strickland is one of the athletes he’s very excited about seeing outside in good weather. Last time he competed, the Alabama Relays, inclement weather cut the meet short.

“The door is wide open for development, and that means we have to challenge him like we are this week with four good races,” Helmer said. “At the same time, we have to remember that he’s only a freshman. It’s a balancing act for us.”

Helmer also said seniors Chris Vaughn and Derek Drouin and junior Kyla Buckley are athletes to keep an eye on this weekend.

Vaughn will race in the 400-meter for the first time this year. He had no indoor eligibility remaining this past season and only ran relays at the Alabama Relays.

After impressive marks last week, Drouin will high jump and Buckley will compete in the shot put.

At the Alabama Relays, Drouin became the outdoor high jump world leader, and Buckley threw this season’s second-best mark in Division I.

Both were named Big Ten Field Athletes of the Week.

“Down in Texas we had some exciting performances, and in the Stanford meet virtually everybody was running right at their personal record,” Helmer said. “So you just follow that up with more consistent performances, and when you do that, every once in a while you have an incredible performance that keeps everybody excited.”