The Hoosiers will look to qualify for the right to compete in Fayetteville, Ark., at the NCAA Indoor ?Championships.
The Gladstein Invitational marks the first meet with pentathlon competition for the women and heptathlon competition for the men. As a result, the meet will be a two-day event, beginning at noon Friday and continuing 10 a.m. Saturday.
The meet does not collect team scores, just marks and times in each event. IU athletes will compete with athletes from Purdue, Loyola (Ill.), Xavier, Grand Valley State and Kent State, individuals who create difficult competition for IU runners.
“For some people, this is an opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championship,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “Facing this level of competition can force them to reach high enough marks to earn their way.”
With 20 IU athletes, 10 men and 10 women, already placed in the top-50 for Indoor Championships, there are few athletes who are not competing for a qualifying mark. Athletes must be ranked in the top-16 in order to qualify for nationals.
Senior Sophie Gutermuth currently ranks fourth in the nation in women’s pole vault with a jump of 13 feet, 10 inches (4.22 meters), and senior Evan Esselink ranks ninth in the men’s 5000-meter run in a time of 14:26.90, both adequate marks to qualify for the championship.
Sophomore Tre’tez Kinnaird has not qualified due to the lack of participation in events.
He is slated to run the mile Saturday — an event hosted by the championship but out of Kinnaird’s specialty.
“It’s a chance to grow,” Helmer said. “Anytime you face high-level competition and compete well, it’s a chance to grow, and that’s what we are trying to ?accomplish.”
Cornelius Strickland, who has already qualified for the 200-meter dash in a time of 21.49 seconds, is running to qualify for the 60-meter dash, an event that requires a preliminary race before the final.
“I just need to be stronger,” Strickland said. “I need to come out stronger and finish stronger. I’ve got to pull out heart because if I don’t have heart in these races, then nothing’s going to happen.”
Strickland triumphed in the Purdue Dual, winning both the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash and helping the Hoosier men to an ?80-55 victory.
“It feels really good to have that great of a meet so early,” he said. “Now we just have to move on from it as a team.”
The Invitational is just one of many opportunities for IU athletes to qualify for Indoor Championships, as they have until March 2 to record ?qualifying marks.
“When you host competition like this, it is really great for the program,” Helmer said. “It’s an important meet on many levels.”
