IU track and field found success in its final regular season meet of the 2020 indoor season this weekend after traveling to South Bend, Indiana, for the Alex Wilson Invitational on Saturday.
Many of the Hoosiers were resting for the Big Ten Indoor Championships next week, such as senior Adam Coulon, freshman Nathan Stone and junior Jyles Etienne.
The meet had a sizable Big Ten presence with Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan and rival Purdue sending athletes to Notre Dame.
Other teams present at the meet included the University of California, Los Angeles and Butler University.
The men’s distance medley team, which qualifies for the NCAA Championships, placed third. The team included senior Kyle Mau, junior Cooper Williams, and sophomores Matthew Schadler and Shaton Vaughn.
IU head coach Ron Helmer said Tuesday he would like to see the distance medley relay team drop a few seconds. The team set a new season best Saturday with a time of 9:27.72.
Another improvement Helmer wanted to see was for junior weight thrower Nick Lane to strengthen his season best to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Lane won his fifth meet of the season with a mark of 20.59 meters. His best mark of the season stands at 21.25, which is outside of qualification at 22nd place.
Senior shot putter Willie Morrison, who currently qualifies for the NCAA Indoor Championships, placed first with a mark of 19.40 meters as the top collegiate finisher of the day.
The women’s team found success from its throwers on Saturday.
Senior Khayla Dawson and junior Maddy Pollard, who both currently qualify for the NCAA Championships, finished first and second respectively in the shot put.
Dawson’s mark of 17.56 is her best of the regular season.
Redshirt junior Princess Brinkley sits outside of qualification but has improved throughout the season.
“She gets better every week, and she needs to take another step and she’ll put herself in the mix,” Helmer said earlier this week.
Brinkley had her best outing of the season in the weight throw, placing third with a mark of 20.27 meters.
Sophomore Jenna Barker said that while NCAA qualification would be a long shot for the distance medley team, it’s still a goal of theirs.
“We have a wonderful, amazing group of women, so I think that would be a really good goal for us,” Barker said.
The team, consisting of Barker, senior Joely Pinkston, senior Mallory Mulzer and freshman Janii Jenkins placed sixth with a time of 11:14.72, the group's best time of the season.
With the regular season’s ending the Hoosiers will travel to Geneva, Ohio, for the Big Ten Indoor Championships from Feb. 28-29.
