Track team to run in qualifiers

This weekend, the Alex Wilson Invitational is the premier destination for collegiate track and field teams across the Midwest.

National contenders will flock to South Bend for the last chance to punch their ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.

IU track and field will look to set up its distance medley relay to compete at the national meet for the fifth consecutive year.

But first, the team needs to qualify.

The distance medley relay combines the 1,200-, 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter runs. Sophomore Jordan Gornall will lead the three-quarter mile leg, followed by senior Derrick Morgan in the quarter and freshman Tre’tez Kinnaird in the half.

Anchoring the race, however, will be a new face for this season’s distance medley relay.

For the first time this season, junior Rorey Hunter will close out the final leg for the Hoosiers’ distance medley.

IU Coach Ron Helmer said Hunter’s aggressive performance at the Hoosier Hills Invitational led him to make the change in the lineup.

“You have to go with whoever’s hot,” Helmer said. “Last weekend I saw two really aggressive races out of him. He seems to have things figured out.”

After winning the 3-kilometer race at the Purdue dual meet last month, Hunter said he went through a slump. Struggling both mentally and physically with a minor hip injury, Hunter had a breakthrough last weekend at IU’s final home meet of the indoor season.

With personal records in the 1,200- and 800-meter, Hunter said he feels confident.

“I feel good,” Hunter said. “I had a few mediocre races, but I got my head right. I got some good momentum going after this weekend.”

At the Hoosier Hills Invitational last weekend, the distance medley relay clocked in at 9:40.51. Based on last year’s times, the quartet of Gornall, Morgan, Kinnaird and Hunter will need to shave 10 seconds off that time if they want to qualify for the national meet.

The Alex Wilson Invitational will provide them ample opportunity. Last weekend, the Hoosiers were left on their own, with no one to push them through the final laps on Gladstein’s small, 200-meter track.

This weekend the men will be racing on the Loftus Center’s oversized 320-meter track. The space and the competitive field — which Helmer said could yield as many as 12 national qualifiers — are two advantageous components of competing at Alex Wilson.

“I know a lot of big schools with a lot of fast times are going to be there,” said Morgan. “We’ll have more competition and a bigger track, which will allow everybody to go a lot faster than this previous weekend.”

That’s not to mention Hunter — the relay’s secret weapon.

As a member of last year’s fourth-place distance medley relay at nationals, his experience could prove irreplaceable as he carries this year’s relay in the final stretch.

“The boys are in good shape,” Hunter said. “Tre’tez is ready to have a big one, Jordan is ready to go and Derrick as well. If I just put my nose in it and stick it hard with those final four or five guys, then I think I can keep up and bring it home for us.”

Follow reporter Tori Ziege on Twitter @ToriZiege