IU track and field is headed south University of Tennessee in Knoxville to compete in the Tennessee Relays.
Sixteen teams from six different conferences will be at the meet. This includes Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State and Rutgers from the Big Ten. The Atlantic Coast Conference will be represented by Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt will represent the Southeastern Conference. Representing varying conferences will be Eastern Michigan, Middle Tennessee State and Southern Illinois.
As for the Hoosiers, since beginning the outdoor season just a few weeks ago at Arizona State, IU Coach Ron Helmer said the team’s performances are getting significantly better. IU competed last week at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, California, with four runners in the 5K event and one runner in the 10K event.
“I thought the girls we took were really good," Helmer said. "Katherine Receveur, in the 5k, broke the school record and now holds the top time in IU school history. Maggie Allen now holds the third fastest time in the 5k in IU school history, and Brenda Calder with the fourth. They competed very well and it was a really good weekend for us.”
As for this weekend, Helmer says that he isn’t not too worried about the competition.
“There’s going to be a lot of really good schools this weekend," Helmer said. "Certainly Ohio State and Illinois out of the Big Ten are really good. Tennessee and Virginia Tech are also always good, but I don’t think there is any one school I’m overly concerned about.”
One concern for the team and Helmer going forward is the inconsistent weather, especially during outdoor season.
“I think it’s starting to come together, Helmer said. "We still have work to do that’s for sure, I think if we get decent weather we will get a far better sense of where we are as a team. But as of right now we are still doing good work and working with a good attitude. We just need a good amount of warm weather so we can get settled into a routine and get more consistent work done.”
