IU won a season-high nine events in a meet that teamed them up with Michigan State and pitted the Big Ten against the newest ACC teams, Louisville and ?Notre Dame.
Both are participating in their first seasons in the ?conference.
The Big Ten won the men’s competition 96-64 and the women’s ?competition 89-76.
IU now has 17 athletes in the top 48 in the nation in their respective events, good enough to qualify for the NCAA East Regional meet as long as they maintain their positions on the list.
“Several athletes took positive steps forward this weekend,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “A few new athletes who hadn’t necessarily taken that step yet and the athletes that we can expect to always give the ?effort.”
Among athletes who had not found victory yet this outdoor season were junior sprinter Cornelius Strickland, who won the men’s 100-meter dash (10.83) and the 200-meter dash (21.41); freshman distance runner Kyle DuVall, who claimed the men’s 1,500-meter run; and freshman Mackenzie Bollinger, who won the women’s 400-meter ?hurdles.
“I had never really ran hurdles,” Bollinger said. “I ran a little in high school but not much, so this was a step in the right direction.”
Bollinger ran a small sample of the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles in high school, but was recruited by IU for the long jump and triple jump before tearing her ACL in her ?senior season.
She began training for the 400-meter dash on her arrival and found a spot in the 400-meter hurdles, where she set the sixth-best time (1:00.73) in IU history Saturday in her third race.
“I’m hoping my time this weekend was good enough to qualify for national prelims,” Bollinger said. “But I also want to reach the final in the Big Ten Championships and score for the team. That’d be great.”
DuVall also hopes to qualify for the NCAA East Regional meet with his personal best and victory in the men’s 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:45.85.
“The goal is to get solid marks and get into that regional meet,” DuVall said. “It’s important that we all just relax and compete.”
DuVall led a sweep of the 1,500-meter run and was followed by junior Owen Skeete and freshman Josh Roche.
All three placed in the top 48 in the nation in ?the event.
DuVall’s time currently stands first in the Big Ten and 36th in the nation.
“Coach always tells us to have confidence in ourselves and our ability to compete,” DuVall said. “This race helped me with that, so I’m happy with ?the win.”
Two other athletes set top-10 performances in IU history. Junior pole vaulter Terry Batemon jumped to ninth in school history with his clearance of 5.25 meters, and junior distance runner and steeplechaser Brianna Johnson finished sixth in IU history in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:22.48.
Helmer sees positive displays of effort, but he also knows that the team can be better than what they are now.
“It’s sometimes OK to have inconsistencies in performances, that’s expected,” Helmer said. “But when we start having inconsistencies in effort, that’s a problem. We can be better, but this was a good step forward.”
