“There were some good performances there and even some weaker ones but, as a whole, we did pretty well,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said.
Between long distance and middle distance, the Hoosiers tallied 11 top-10 finishes in their respective sections.
Sections are groups of athletes competing in separate heats of the same event where no ultimate winner is crowned.
Junior Tre’tez Kinnaird and freshman Daniel Kuhn both competed in what was considered the fastest section.
Kinnaird was the Big Ten champion in the indoor 800-meter run this season, and Kuhn made history in Arizona last weekend with the third-best 800 in school history at 1:47.80.
But Saturday, Kinnaird finished third with a time of 1:48.45, and Kuhn finished sixth with 1:49.57.
Junior distance runner Josh Roche finished second in the men’s 3K steeplechase at 8:48.01, less than a second shy of his personal record.
“I felt really good,” Roche said. “I knew that last week, a few of the steeplechasers didn’t run as well as we all knew that they could, so I felt that I had to come out and have a good performance.”
In his freshman year in 2013, Roche qualified for the NCAA Championships in the men’s 3K steeplechase with a personal-best time of 8:47.44.
After a disappointing sophomore season, he failed to qualify for nationals in 2014.
“It all came down to me not trusting in my training and not listening to the coaches the way that I should have,” Roche said. “Yeah, I had a couple minor injuries, but it was mostly a focus issue.”
His personal record sits at 10th in IU history, and it appears he may be poised to set another personal record soon with a similar performance this weekend.
“When you make the National Championship, there’s no better feeling,” Roche said. “But when you miss it the next year, there’s no worse feeling. I’m just trying to keep from feeling that way again.”
One athlete who did set a personal record was sophomore distance runner Amanda Behnke, who finished 10th in the second section of the women’s 10K with a time of 33:59.60.
Not only was her performance a personal record by 34 seconds, but it also stands as the sixth-best women’s 10K in IU history.
“I had only ran the 10K two other times, so I never really knew what to expect before with such a long race,” Behnke said. “This offseason, I just got more miles and just tried to improve on my stamina.”
With her strong performance in the Stanford Invitational, Behnke will not need to run another 10K until the Big Ten Championships because she has already cemented her name into NCAA Regional qualifying.
The Hoosiers’ next event will be the ACC vs. Big Ten meet, where Louisville and Notre Dame will take on Michigan and IU — a much smaller interconference meet than the Pac 12 vs. Big Ten meet last weekend.
“We just keep getting better,” Helmer said. “That’s all we’re trying to do: find that comfort level and get times and marks qualified for nationals.”
