IU track closed the first month of the season last weekend at the IU Relays and will continue to face a tough schedule in February by traveling for the first time to Notre Dame for the Meyo Invitational.
IU will face opponents like Purdue that the team has already seen but will also see teams like Michigan it has not competed against this season. The invitational will also include Big Ten teams like Michigan State, Iowa and Ohio State. Those opponents will give IU a sneak peek at the competition it will face at the Big Ten Championship in just two weeks.
“The Big Ten teams are going to bring a pretty good level of competition, but regardless we know who they are, we know what they have, we know what their strengths are, and we know what their weaknesses are,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “I think we are very much in the place where we need to take care of ourselves and worry about ourselves.”
Helmer said he is not too worried about facing this level of competition so close to the conference championships and emphasized he wants his athletes to focus on themselves.
“We need to make sure we are in the best place possible,” Helmer said. “That will serve us the best for the Big Ten Championship. Worrying about other opponents will start to get us in trouble.”
After this weekend’s competition in South Bend, Indiana, and the Big Ten and NCAA Championships, IU will mostly be facing teams outside its conference. This also entails traveling for eight consecutive weeks. Coach Helmer said his athletes do a great job at handling this amount of stress but noted it ultimately can take a toll on them.
“The kids do a great job in the classroom and for the most part do a great job communicating with the professors,” Helmer said. “They stay on top of things, and if they are not staying on top of things as they should, then we won’t have them travel.”
Moving forward, Helmer said he wants his athletes to keeping working on themselves and improving themselves, regardless of what other teams do.
“It’s more about us doing what we have prepared to do than worrying about anyone else,” Helmer said.
