After splitting up and competing in three different meets around the country last weekend, the IU track and field team will stick together Friday and Saturday as they travel to the University of Notre Dame to compete in the Alex Wilson Invitational.
The meet, which will be IU’s final regular season meet of the indoor season and its final tuneup before the Big Ten Championships, is filled with a slew of tough competition.
Teams from Stanford University, University of Kansas University and Brigham Young University are scheduled to send a select group of athletes to compete.
Those three teams all come into the meet ranked in the top 25 of the U.S Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association men’s rankings. Stanford sits at No. 9, BYU at No. 16 and Kansas rounds out the trio at No. 19.
IU is no stranger to the rankings themselves, after coming off of a successful, record-filled weekend. The men cracked the top ten for the first time this season, sitting at No. 10.
While the women have yet to move into the top 25, they continue to move closer and closer each week. They currently sit at No. 32, up four spots from just a week ago.
Last weekend, the Hoosiers saw national qualifying times in a variety of events, in particular the distance races and the field events.
Sophomore Princess Brinkley’s distance of 21.53 meters in the weight throw also earned her a spot in the record book’s as the new school leader in the event.
After running a time of 3:57.61 in the men’s mile, junior Kyle Mau now holds the NCAA’s fastest time in the event this season.
With personal records falling each week, IU looks to be in a good spot nearing the postseason. This weekend the team looks to build on that success and momentum with one final chance to set qualifying times.
The meet gets underway at 11 a.m. Saturday with four events kicking things off: the women’s 60-meter hurdle preliminaries, weight throw and pole vault and the men’s long jump.
