IU Track and Field will travel to Geneva, Ohio, to compete in the Big Ten Championships on Friday and Saturday. Many athletes on the team have had their eyes on the championship all year long.
“Now I have a job to do,” redshirt junior thrower Nakel McClinton said. “The rest of the meets before were just practice for this. Now’s the time where I need to get in there and go get 10 points for IU Track and Field. I’m just really excited. I’ve been thinking about this since fall.”
McClinton is one of a small number of Hoosiers that enter Big Tens with a chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. The top 16 in the country for each individual event qualify. McClinton is 13th in the weight throw. Senior Sydney Clute is 11th in the country in the pole vault, sophomore Daniel Kuhn is 15th in the country in the 800-meter and redshirt senior Dylan Anderson is 16th in the heptathlon.
“They’re going to go out and do the best they can,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. ”What it gets them, it gets them. We know we’re not going to get everything we want, but we do know that we’re going to have some really good things happen.”
The men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams also have a chance to qualify for NCAAs, but they would need to improve their times this weekend. The top 12 teams in the country qualify in the relays. The men’s and women’s teams are 18th and 14th, respectively.
In preparation for Big Tens, Helmer has been emphasizing that his athletes be completely ready to go, physically and mentally. Last week, the majority of the team had the weekend off rather than competing, while only a select few competed at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame.
This week, Helmer said the practices have been a bit more laid back in an effort to minimize fatigue and maximize performance at the meet.
Overall, Helmer had more question marks about athletes than feelings of assuredness. He knows the team’s leaders and frontrunners will be ready to go, but he doesn’t know how the many young athletes on the team will handle the bigger stage.
He said he’d like to see one of the younger sprinters for the women’s team get into a final this weekend, particularly sophomore Kendell Wiles in the 600-meter or freshman Riley Egbula in the 400-meter.
“They’re pretty talented, and it’s a bit more of a challenge for the young ones in this environment for their first time,” Helmer said. “But great athletes are great athletes for a reason. They’ve learned how to manage these kinds of things. So we’ll expect them to do that.”
Aside from the leaders and potential qualifiers, this is the last indoor meet for the team’s seniors. Sprinter Cornelius Strickland said although he’s physically well-rested and feeling loose, he feels like Big Tens are “now or never” for him.
“It’s the last ride,” Strickland said. “Never thought it would come down to this. I feel like just last year it was my freshman year, and now this is my last indoor season ever. So it definitely feels like now or never.”
McClinton said she also feels like it’s “now or never” for her. This season, she set the school record in weight throw four times, including the last three times she competed. She didn’t want to know where she ranks nationally, preferring to keep her focus on Big Tens.
Helmer described three groups he sees his athletes in heading into Big Tens. He said the athletes who have experience and success under their belts are in a good place, some of the others have shown signs of potential, and some others have been anxious heading into the meet.
“But one of the great skills that high level athletes have is their ability to manage the anxiety of pressure situations,” Helmer said. “I’m also a coach who is fairly realistic, and all coaches are probably fairly reluctant to tell you that ‘Oh yeah, everybody’s on, we’re going to hit it big time.’ When you least expect it sometimes is when you get the biggest explosions. We’ll see what happens.”
