IU will travel to Louisville, Kentucky, to compete in the Big Ten vs. ACC Challenge this weekend. IU will compete against Michigan State, Purdue, Louisville, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.
IU Coach Ron Helmer said the six schools competing all have high-level athletes in some events, which he said he thinks will lead to high-level competition across the board. Helmer said he thinks the competition Saturday should be more solid than the Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational.
“We’re four weeks farther along, and people are going to be more apt to line up more and more and more of their team that they feel like is starting to round into shape and getting ready to compete,” Helmer said.
So far this season for IU, 27 athletes have set marks that would qualify them to advance to the first round of the NCAA Championships in Jacksonville, Florida.
For both the men’s and women’s teams, IU’s distance runners have had an overall strong season thus far. In each of the first three meets, different distance runners have stepped up and delivered solid performances for the Hoosiers.
Helmer identified sophomore distance runner Brenna Calder as somewhat of a catalyst for that success for the women’s team, and said her refusal to make excuses has made her into a dependable competitor. For the men’s side, he said sophomore middle distance runner Daniel Kuhn’s strong performance at the Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational was an important wake-up call for the rest of the team.
Helmer said they expect high-level performances out of every group, but the rest of the team might want to look toward the distance squad to pick up their own performances.
“I don’t know if they’ve figured out that it would be a good thing to do yet or not,” Helmer said. “I think if they look at those people who are potentially NCAA First Round qualifiers or Big Ten scorers, there’s a pretty heavy dose of distance runners and middle distance runners in there.”
Junior distance runner Jeremy Coughler said the group has a positive environment going for them, and they’ve responded well to the success.
“We push ourselves in practice with each other,” Coughler said. “Then, when it comes to races together, we really push each other, but also we build off each other’s performances. If someone runs really well, then we see that, and we’re like ‘Hey, we’re as fit as them. We can run what they can, maybe a little faster.’”
Coughler won the 3,000 meter steeplechase last week at the Tiger Track Classic. However, he was quick to point out the time says more than the place does, and he would need to post a better time in the coming meets if he is to qualify for regionals.
Senior pole vaulter Sophie Gutermuth has struggled mightily so far this season. In the two meets she’s vaulted in, she failed to clear a height.
Helmer said he doesn’t know what’s going on with her but trusts she’ll get it together. He said she’s handled the struggles maturely and is working hard to identify the problems she’s having.
“The frustrating thing about Sophie is that she’ll have days when she could beat anybody, and she just kills it,” Helmer said. “And unfortunately, she’s balancing that off with days, on competition days recently, where she just is really scattered and not dialed in.”
