The IU men’s track and field team will be separated the next couple of days as the Hoosiers travel to three different locations and compete in the busiest weekend of their season.
Field athletes will be competing Friday and Saturday at the Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas. Most of the track athletes will be in Pennsylvania to take part in the Penn Relays, and the IU sprinters will be on their own in Ohio for the Redhawk Invitational.
IU Coach Ron Helmer said the team is split up because each group has things it needs to focus on and these three meets provide different opportunities.
“The Penn Relays will be the biggest meet in the country in terms of participants and crowd,” Helmer said. “When you run in front of 50 or 60 thousand people, it gets chaotic. People don’t like chaos sometimes, but I think it’s beneficial to learn how to manage it.”
Helmer said this is a one-of-a-kind meet that has plenty to offer his team.
“It’s a chance to run against the best people in the country, and we are among that group,” Helmer said. “This group is in the position where they can forget about how fast their times are and just go out and beat as many people as they can.”
Helmer also said this meet can help the Hoosiers in the future by being able to draw in more top recruits.
“If we go in there and compete at a really high level — it’s my firm belief is that you track what you project,” Helmer said. “This is a high school meet too, so there will be high school kids here to see this, and if we come in and perform well, we are going to attract some high-level kids.”
The three-day event begins Thursday and finishes with the relays Saturday. There will be three relay races, and junior Joe Murphy will run in them all. Murphy will be a part of the distance medley relay, the 4x800-meter relay and the 4xMile relay teams for IU.
“It’s tough,” Murphy said. “I had to do the same thing in indoors when I raced in three events at the Big Ten Championships, and it takes a toll on you, but it can be done. You just have to make sure you focus on recovering after each race.”
Murphy said he knows how hard it will be but is excited for the opportunity. Helmer also said he has high hopes for his squads.
“We should be competitive in all the relays,” Helmer said. “I don’t think it’s a crazy challenge. As long as they are ready for it and excited about it, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Helmer said most of the athletes attending the Penn Relays have already had marks good enough to qualify them for the first round of the NCAA meet. Not all the Hoosiers are in the same boat though.
“We have a bunch of people who are dinged up and need a few extra workout days or they just need an open race,” Helmer said.
Helmer decided to send his sprinters to Ohio so they can focus on getting better individual marks on the board, and he said the opportunity at Penn wouldn’t benefit them as much.
In the meantime, the field athletes will compete in the Longhorn Invitational. The hammer throw will take place Friday, but all other events will occur Saturday.
“The kids in Texas are all probably in the first round already,” Helmer said of their NCAA chances. “We’ve had sketchy weather, not great competition or whatever it may be lately, and this is a good chance for them to see some really good competition.”
Helmer said he understands how important this weekend will be for the team. He said he wishes he could have brought more people together but needed to do what was best for each individual group.
