Representing the team’s final indoor home meet of the season, Hoosier Hills provides one last opportunity for athletes to make the IU Big Ten roster, which is chosen by the coaches.
“We aren’t focused too much on this being the last meet at Gladstein,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “We’re stressing more that this is their last chance to show that they deserve to get on that bus to the Big Tens and that they can compete at a high level.”
During the Meyo Invitational last weekend at Notre Dame, Helmer said many athletes shrank in the face of higher-level competition.
“I spent all summer trying to put things in their heads about how to deal with expectations, how to deal with growth, how to deal with development,” Helmer said. “It makes it disappointing when you put those same people into a position to perform, and they just get in their own way.”
Helmer said he will evaluate a group of 12 to 15 people this weekend in order to determine if they will make the championship roster.
Junior pole vaulter Sophie Gutermuth is one athlete Helmer has praised for her consistency and competitiveness. She increased her indoor school record from 4.20 meters to 4.26 meters and stands second in the Big Ten this season.
“It just feels like a new height to me,” Gutermuth said of her record. “I think it’s cool that I broke the record, but it’s not the main goal.”
Gutermuth bounced back from a bad performance at the IU Relays where she was unable to clear a height of 3.86 meters.
“I was using a bigger pole, and it got into my head,” Gutermuth said. “I wasn’t focusing on what I worked on in practice or keeping my form, so I started doing that now, and it’s working.”
One athlete who has burst onto the scene is freshman middle distance runner Daniel Kuhn, who has only been competing in competitive track and field for seven months after participating in both baseball and track in his senior year of high school.
“I’ve just been all ears and all eyes,” Kuhn said. “I’m trusting in what the coaching staff is telling me to do.”
Kuhn, a former commit to Trine University baseball, won the Indiana state event in the men’s 800-meter run with a time of 1:50.91 to become Shelbyville High School’s first state champion in a track event since 1931.
“I just try not to look ahead or get to far ahead of myself,” Kuhn said. “I just try to prepare for each meet one at a time.”
Kuhn holds several significant spots in the Big Ten standings, including eleventh in the 600-meter run, sixth in the 800-meter run, eighth in the 1600-meter relay and second in the 3200-meter relay.
He is also expected to participate in the Distance Medley Relay, an event in which a new school record was set in 2014.
Differing from the previous home meets, Hoosier Hills will last only through Friday evening.
