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(02/21/03 6:26am)
Starting this Saturday, the No. 14 men's track and field team hosts the Hoosier Hills meet as a tune-up for the conference meet, which takes place March 1 and 2 in Champaign, Ill. Teams from across the country will travel to Gladstein Fieldhouse for the meet, which starts at noon. As the team will work to beat the competition, the focus will be on the Big Ten Championship.\n"We're going to have an awesome meet with the Big Tens, and we've got to be prepared to do as well as we possibly can," coach Marshall Goss said.\nThe men have run well in the past two weeks against national competition at the Canon IV Classic and the Indiana Invitational. Team scores were not kept, but several individuals boasted top performances.\nBefore the string of invitationals, the men competed in several dual meets, emerging 7-2. Their only two losses came in the same meet to Purdue and Ohio State, both top ranked programs. This meet marks the seventh consecutive weekend of racing for some individuals. Some team members will take the opportunity this week to recuperate before the Big Ten Championships.\n"Not a lot of the guys who are going to the Big Tens will participate this week," Goss said. "We're going to mix up our lineup quite a bit and give some young guys a chance to run."\nGoss said many of the field event athletes will compete in the meet, along with the hurdlers and some middle-distance athletes. The middle-distance runners will compete at a shorter event.\n"I'm going to use this meet as exactly what it is, preparation for Big Tens," junior thrower Mike Minton said.\nIn addition to Minton, some other athletes to watch this weekend are senior jumper Hasaan Reddick, senior hurdler Matt Harris and sophomore jumper Noah Shelton. Goss said he hopes the meet adds momentum for the athletes heading into the Big Ten Championship. The athletes should gain either confidence or rest heading into the meet.\n"It's like a springboard," Goss said. "That springboard might be not running, or it might be running a different event or just running one event."\nThe team needs as much momentum as it can get heading into the conference meet. The Big Ten is looking strong with five teams in the top 15. Goss said there is no real favorite heading into the meet.\n"We're going to be hunting for everything we can get," Goss said. "The thing is that our kids' attitude toward competition has been very good."\nThe Hoosier Hills meet will be at Gladstein Fieldhouse with an admission of $4 for adults and no charge for IU students.
(02/20/03 6:44am)
This time last year, junior Mike Minton could not even throw a shot put without excruciating pain from a ball of cartilage that had formed in his elbow. Now, he is winning invitationals against competition from around the country.\nThis past weekend the No. 17 men's track and field team traveled to Plainfield, Ind., for the Canon IV Classic meet where Minton easily won the shot put. This was his second victory in as many weeks.\n"I didn't throw as far as I wanted, but I'm making progress and becoming a better thrower," Minton said.\nThis week marks a year since Minton went into surgery for his elbow. The ball of cartilage was pressing against a nerve making it practically impossible for him to extend his arm without pain.\nMinton said he was smart during his rehabilitation, which is one of the things he attributes his success in the season to. Instead of rushing back to throwing, Minton was patient and found other ways to improve at his sport. He used cross-training tactics such as running, plyometrics, abdominal work and weights that didn't require both arms.\n"Too many times, athletes become impatient and try to rush things," Minton said. "It was very difficult for me, but I found other ways to train hard without using my other elbow and feed the hunger with training and not do anything stupid."\nCoach Marshall Goss said Minton's intelligence is one of his key traits as an athlete and a major reason he has found success. \n"He's a very, very competitive young man," Goss said. "He'll give us every effort he has."\nGoss said Minton can be competitive to a fault at times. Earlier this season, Minton struggled to regain the feel in the throwing ring after a year absence. Goss said he was thinking too much and was too hard on himself.\n"At times, he just needs to relax and take it as it comes," Goss said. "I'm sure that the maturity that he has gained over the past three years will help him do that."\nMinton said the reason he struggled at the beginning of the season was mental. He said after the third meet of the season, he focused more on technique in training which has led to his big performances the past two weeks.\n"I really want to be a good thrower," Minton said. "But whenever you step into the ring, you can't be tense. You've got to have confidence and be relaxed, and I'm at the point where I'm now relaxed heading into the ring."\nNow Minton has his focus on the Big Ten Championships at the end of the month, where the competition promises to be stiff. Minton said he knows he can compete on that level.\n"I feel like I've put myself in a position to go out and be competitive," Minton said. "Now I can just go out with the mindset that I just want to do as well as I can and that will get me where I want to go"
(02/17/03 5:18am)
Severe winter weather could not keep the No. 24 men's track and field team off the roads this weekend. They traveled to Plainfield, Ind., for the Canon IV Classic to compete against athletes from all over the country. \nSchools from Florida, Colorado, Tennessee and Michigan were represented as well as several elite high school athletes to provide solid competition for the meet in most events. Team scores were not kept for the meet.\nThe team was led with several winning performances. Sophomore All-American Aarik Wilson remained unbeaten in the triple jump and long jump, posting strong marks in both events. He set a new personal record in the long jump and met the NCAA provisional standard for the event.\n"I was down a little bit, so I really needed this meet," Wilson said. "When we come to meets like this and have people place high, it gives us confidence and helps us rally around each other."\nSenior Matt Harris set a season personal record in the hurdles, and junior Nate Gooden smashed his personal record in the 3000m. Also turning in solid performances were junior long and triple jumper Chris Rosenthal, sophomore high jumper Noah Shelton and sophomore hurdler Kyle Turner. Junior Mike Minton led the throwers with a victory in the shot put.\n"It's nice to win, but I wish I would have thrown a little farther," Minton said. "I know there's a lot left I have to work on, and I can still throw a lot farther for Big Tens. The throws are just going to get farther from here." \nAs a whole, coach Marshall Goss said he was pleased with his team's performance. The team overcame obstacles with the weather and track conditions and landed some impressive marks. The throwers in particular had problems with their throwing pit.\nSome of the athletes said that they felt flat, which threw off their performance. Goss said that this may have been because the athletes are still training hard and are fighting injuries and sickness. Also the weather may have led to the dismal feel. \n"If you can do what we did with being flat then you're in all right," Goss said. "Big Tens are coming up, and if they can get there by that time, then we're looking good"
(02/14/03 5:28am)
This weekend the No. 17 men's track and field team continues its indoor season with the Canon IV Classic in Indianapolis. The team was originally scheduled to travel to Arkansas this weekend, but problems with the plane tickets led coach Marshall Goss to decide to stay in-state and run in this meet.\nIn the past, Goss said he did not usually like the Canon IV Classic due to the venue in which it was held. This year, the setting is quite different for the meet. It has been moved from downtown Indianapolis to the Plainfield area where it will be held in a huge warehouse.\nThe Hoosiers are coming off an impressive performance at home last weekend from the Indiana Invitational. Team scores were not kept, but for the most part, individuals were pleased with their performances.\n"When we had as many (personal records) as we did, there's going to be a lot more confidence and everyone's going to feel better going out there," junior Mike Minton said.\nThe team has focused primarily on strength in their training up to this point. Now, with the Big Ten Championships looming around the corner, the training has started to come down so that the marks improve.\nThe Indiana Invitational was highlighted by victories in six events. Sophomore Aarik Wilson remained unbeaten in the triple jump, junior Rodney Hollis set a new school record in the 600-meter dash and sophomore John Jefferson ran a 4:04 in the mile. He said he hopes to get even closer to four minutes this weekend.\n"These meets help when it gets time for Big Tens," Hollis said. "It's very competitive, so racing against these guys helps you when you need to run in a big time meet."\nGoss said the meet will be used as just another chance to compete. Some of the athletes who have been competing every weekend and have already made their marks will not participate, while other athletes with less experience this season will.\n"We'll just kind of use it as a mix up meet," Goss said. "Off for some people, on for others."\nThe team has been back to competing well for the last two weeks after a stumble at Purdue where they lost to both the Boilermakers and Ohio State. Since then, they dominated a four-way meet at Illinois and performed well last week. They hope to keep the momentum in their favor for the Big Ten Championships, which is March 1 and 2 at Illinois.\nNo team score will be kept at the Canon IV Classic. The two-day meet will begin this afternoon and resume Saturday.
(02/13/03 5:38am)
Junior middle distance runner Rodney Hollis was expecting a breakout season this year. So far, that is exactly what it has been. Hollis missed most of last year because of a stress fracture in his left fibula, so he was eyeing this season eagerly and has already posted some impressive marks.\n"Last year I barely even ran," Hollis said. "I was walking around in an air cast boot for most of the season. The only thing I had to look forward to was this season."\nSaturday at the Indiana Invitational, Hollis broke the school record in the 600-meter with a time of 2:18.70, breaking the old record by half of a second. After that race, he managed to post an impressive split in the 4x400m relay and took second place.\n"Rodney's running very competitive and very smart," coach Marshall Goss said. "He is looking to have a breakout season." \nHollis credited his training as a major factor in his improvement. Hollis said before his injury last year he was looking good, but this season he has felt even stronger. He added that his training has placed a greater emphasis on endurance and attributes that to his greater strength.\n"I get more mileage now so I'm stronger endurance-wise than I ever was before," Hollis said. "Everything as far as my running goes is at such a higher level than it has been in previous years."\nHollis said being stronger has allowed him to run more aggressively. He now can go out with the leaders and feel confident that he will have enough left at the end of the race.\nGoss said a major reason for Hollis' marked improvement has been his mental attitude. He said Hollis has been very competitive this year and that has made an impact on his marks.\n"It's awful easy to make an excuse," Goss said. "It's a lot harder sometimes to just run through it. Rodney is one of those guys who runs through it."\nHollis said one aspect that makes his running easier is his studies. He said when his studies are going well, his running usually does better as well. As an exercise science major, he usually faces a challenging schedule. Last semester, he took 17 credit hours in addition to his hectic training schedule.\n"Grades are the top priority, above track," Hollis said. "If our grades get too low, then we can't even help our track team because we'd be ineligible."\nThis weekend at the Cannon IV Classic, Hollis will move up in distance to the 800-meter. He said that he hopes his greater endurance will prove helpful at this move. He has high hopes for the meet, as he is still experimenting with his potential.\n"I'm going to go out fast and trail right behind the leader," Hollis said. "I don't really know where my potential is, so I'm just going to go out and see where I'm at"
(02/10/03 5:52am)
The Indiana Invitational, the opening home meet for the No. 17 men's track and field team, was highlighted by the individual efforts of the athletes this weekend. Team scores were not kept during the meet, but the Hoosiers were able to earn victories in six events.\nThe meet opened Friday with the mile race, one of the highlights of the meet. The meet featured two won the latter in a time of 4:04.71, which met the NCAA provisional standards. The meet's open mile was dominated by sophomore Stephen Haas in a time of 4:11.23.\n"I was trying to run a little faster than that to get a faster provisional," Jefferson said. "But it was a good start in the right direction so I was pretty happy with it."\nAlso winning for the Hoosiers were junior Mike Minton in the shot put, junior Nathan Gooden in the 5000-meter, junior Nathan Purcell in the 3000-meter, and sophomore Aarik Wilson in the triple jump.\nWilson, an All-American in the triple jump a year ago, is undefeated in that event as well as the long jump in the season. Senior Hasaan Reddick finished second in the triple jump with a jump of 15.53-meter. Junior Russell Hollis also put on an impressive display Saturday, breaking the school record in the 600-meter dash with a time of 1:18.7 and taking second place.\n"We've been training hard this last week and we didn't really taper at all for this meet," Hollis said. "Your legs should be heavy, but we were able to run fast. That just shows we're a lot stronger." \nCoach Marshall Goss said that he was happy with the individual performances and that the team is back on track. The team had been struggling previously this season with disappointing performances largely due to injury.\n"(This meet) has to help the guys' confidence," Goss said. "We had a good two days of competing. There were really some good marks." \nWith three weeks until the Big Ten Championship meet, the team is hoping to take advantage of every chance to enter the meet with momentum. Next weekend the team travels to Indianapolis for the Cannon IV Classic.
(02/07/03 6:17am)
Today kicks off the No. 17 men's track and field team's first home meet of the season. The Indiana Invitational is a two day meet beginning this afternoon at 4 p.m. and resuming tomorrow at noon.\nSo far this season, the team has faced only dual meet competition. The team dominated their last meet at Illinois last weekend to give them some momentum entering the meet today. Though no team score will be kept, this will be the team's first taste of a big meet atmosphere this season.\n"It at least gives you a feel of what the Big Tens will be like, when you qualify for one event one day then have to come back for the finals the next day," coach Marshall Goss said.\nSome of the athletes to watch are senior jumper Hasaan Reddick, sophomore middle distance runners Rodney and Russell Hollis, junior sprinter Contrell Ash and freshman thrower Wil Fleming.\nThe team's points leader in the early portion of the season has been All-American jumper sophomore Aarik Wilson. Wilson has been undefeated in both the long and triple jump and looks to improve even more on his marks this weekend. Wilson has already met the provisional marks for the NCAA Championship meet.\n"We've got a lot of momentum coming in," Wilson said. "And also we're starting to cut back on our training and test where we are for the Big Tens."\nThis will be the strongest competition that the team has faced yet this season. More than 25 teams from surrounding states will make the trip to Bloomington. Goss said that every team will bring different strengths, which will make for an excellent all around track meet.\n"I think it will be the deepest competition that we have had to run against this season so far," assistant coach Ed Beathea said. "Because of the nature and the number of entries that there are that this will make it the toughest meet we've had so far."\nOne event that Goss said he was particularly excited about is the mile. There will be two sections of the mile, the first will open the meet at 3:50 today. In this race, the athletes hope to push the four-minute mark. The Hoosiers will feature sophomores John and Sean Jefferson and Eric Redman, as well as sophomore Tom Burns who will rabbit the race. John Jefferson was an All-American in the indoor mile a year ago.\n"We've set up a race that should be very exciting for everyone to watch," Goss said. "It should be a very, very fast mile"
(02/06/03 7:15am)
Saturday at a four-way meet in Illinois, the No. 16 men's track and field team's top 400-meter runner, junior Ryan Sarbinoff, came up with an injured hamstring during warm ups. This left his training partner, junior Dan Martin, as the top 400-meter runner.\nComing into the meet, Martin said he had not been satisfied with his races in the open 400-meter dash, in spite of having several solid performances in the 4x400-meter relay. However, Martin stepped up to the challenge and was able to win the open 400-meter dash for the team. The Hoosiers ended up dominating the meet.\n"He's always performing," coach Marshall Goss said. "Dan's really doing a nice job for us. He's working hard and really has his head into it."\nMartin said one of the reasons that he was struggling in the open 400-meter earlier in the season was because of confidence. He said confidence has been a factor in his career dating all the way back to high school, but he is working to overcome this setback. Last weekend when Sarbinoff came up injured, the coaches said for Martin to just let it go and it worked for him.\nFor the indoor season, Martin will compete exclusively in the 400-meter and the 4x400-meter relay, but he is one of the top 400-meter hurdlers as well. Last season, he placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships in the event. He also stepped into the 4x100-meter relay team, which took second at the Big Ten Championships.\n"Dan Martin's versatility is definitely an asset for us," sprinting coach Ed Beathea said. "Martin is a guy that will allow us a lot of different options."\nIn high school, he showed off his versatility in several sports. At Concord High School, he went undefeated in the 300-meter hurdles from his sophomore year to his senior year, earning state-champion as a junior and runner-up as a sophomore and senior. He was also an all-state football player at wide receiver and defensive back. He entertained offers of playing football in college, but ultimately chose track instead.\n"I thought he was potentially a very good runner when I saw him in high school," Goss said. "He had a lot of the mental attributes that I like to see in an athlete. He goes out and lays it all on the line."\nMartin will prove to be even more valuable during the outdoor season where he will be relied on in the 400-meter hurdles and the 4x400-meter relay. Beathea said he does not see that anything is holding Martin back from making an impact at the Big Ten Championships in the open 400 this indoor season. \n"I want to go sub-49 (seconds) and maybe get down to the low 48s," Martin said. "I think it's possible and then I can score some points at Big Tens"
(02/03/03 5:31am)
The No. 19 IU men's track and field team earned its second indoor win of the season on Saturday as they defeated host Illinois, Missouri and Eastern Illinois. IU scored 180.5 points to defeat its nearest competitor, Illinois, who had 142. Missouri finished third with 135.5 points, and Eastern Illinois had 79.\nIt was a well-timed victory with their first home meet, the Indiana Invitational, a week away. The team was also coming off of a disappointing finish at Purdue a week ago.\nCoach Marshall Goss said this was an important meet in terms of momentum heading into bigger indoor meets. The meet at Purdue had set the team off-track from where they wanted to be, but the win was a step in the right direction.\n"At Purdue, we beat ourselves," Goss said. "We needed to turn that around, and I think we did."\nThe team dominated the meet with seven athletes earning individual victories and the distance medley relay winning in dramatic fashion.\nSophomore All-American Aarik Wilson continued his winning ways with a victory in both the triple jump and long jump with senior Hasaan Reddick, finishing right behind in second in both. Freshman Wil Fleming finished third in the weight throw with a throw of 17.1 meters, which ranked third in school history.\nJunior Daniel Martin won the 400-meter dash, filling in for junior Ryan Sarbinoff who sat out the meet nursing an injured leg. Sarbinoff has been the team's top 400-meter runner in the two previous meets with Martin close behind. With Sarbinoff out Saturday, Martin carried the event for the team.\n"I think it was just coming in and getting my confidence up," Martin said. "I didn't run bad in the first two meets, but I was sort of hesitant. Before the race, coach just said not to hold back, and I didn't."\nAlso earning victories for the team were junior Contrell Ash in the 200-meter, junior Cedric Jackson in the 600-meter, sophomore John Jefferson in the mile and sophomore Stephen Haas in the 3000-meter.\nNow the team shifts its focus to the Indiana Invitational next weekend. The team had been looking ahead to the meet since the beginning of the season as the first real test against top competition in a two-day meet.\n"We're going for a big one," Goss said. "Next week, tell everybody to be out there at 4:00 and they'll see a great race"
(01/31/03 5:46am)
The No. 14 track and field team has struggled in the early part of the indoor season with team mentality, Coach Marshall Goss said. But for junior sprinter Ryan Sarbinoff, taking the team to a Big Ten Chamionship is one of his goals, he said.\nSarbinoff has helped lead the team in the two indoor meets this season with first and second place finishes in the 400-meter dash. He has also anchored the 4x400 meter relay team to victory in both meets.\n"Ryan's been working very, very hard," Goss said. "He's carefree, but when it comes to participating, he competes hard."\nThe team was without Sarbinoff for a large portion of last season when he partially tore his hamstring. That injury cost him three weeks of last season and three more months after Sarbinoff attempted to compete before his hamstring was ready. \nSprinting coach Ed Beathea said the coaching staff is more cautious with Sarbinoff's return this season. In the early part of the season he has refrained from excessive speed work, focusing more on strength.\n"His progress from a physical standpoint has been OK, but he has struggled mentally because he hasn't passed where he was last year yet," Beathea said. "If he stays healthy and continues to work then his times will drop. Sarbinoff's a competitive kid and that'll help him get back to where he wants to be."\nSarbinoff said he has applied pressure on himself to regain form, not for individual performances, but to help his team. He said he wants to qualify for the NCAA Championships, but added it is more important for the team to win the Big Ten Championships.\n"It's just more important to me to benefit the team however I can instead of just helping myself," Sarbinoff said. "I know track is both a team and individual sport but I think the main objective is a team championship. It wouldn't be a team sport if that wasn't the overall goal."\nAs a prep at Carmel High School, Sarbinoff led his team to a championship by winning the 200- meter dash and placing second in the 400-meter dash and the 4x400 meter relay. If he remains healthy, he could help the team to a Big Ten Championship this season.\n"I think he has a lot of leadership qualities," Goss said. "A leader is one who does what he says he's going to do, and Ryan does what he talks."\nSarbinoff still has work to do before he can run as fast as he would like, but that as long as his hamstring problems stay away, he will be fine, Beathea said. Sarbinoff's mentality will ensure success this season, Beathea said.
(01/31/03 5:45am)
Saturday the No. 19 men's track and field team travels to Illinois for their third dual meet in as many weeks. The team cruised to victory in their first meet at Michigan but fell to No. 13 Purdue and Ohio State last weekend.\nCoach Marshall Goss said he expects a challenge similar to last weekend. Though unranked, he said Illinois is still a dangerous team.\n"Illinois was only beaten by Ohio State by a couple of points two weeks ago," Goss said. "When you look at it across the board, it's going to be a competitive meet and should come down to the last couple of events."\nThe team will meet up with Eastern Illinois and Missouri as well as host Illinois this weekend. Goss said he was disappointed with the team's performance last week and hopes to use this meet to regain some momentum heading into the Indiana Invitational at home in two weeks.\n"We've got to prove that we can respond off of an effort that wasn't really there," Goss said. "As a whole, we didn't get the job done that we should have last week so we'll have to come back this week and see if we can."\nGoss said that while many athletes competed well at Purdue, others did not compete as well as he would have liked. He attributed this to a "me" mentality, as opposed to a "we" mentality.\nJunior Ryan Sarbinoff said one of the reasons some athletes have been faltering has been due to the strenuous training regimen. Many of the athletes have been feeling tired or sore as of late, which has taken effect on their mental toughness, Sarbinoff said.\n"We've been training through these first couple of meets," Sarbinoff said. "Coach has been getting us ready for two day meets, like the Indiana Invitational."\nSo far this season, the team has been led by younger athletes. Sophomore Aarik Wilson has won both the long jump and the triple jump in both meets, and sophomore Sean Jefferson won the mile Saturday. Sophomores Rodney and Russell Hollis have also been consistent in middle distance events.\nSprinting coach Ed Beathea said he thinks the harsh training wasn't a reason for the team's dismal performance at Purdue, and he expects the team to compete better at Illinois even though the training will not be reduced. He also said this is not the part of the season where the team expects to peak.\n"Our conference meet is at the end of February so that's when we really need to run well," Beathea said. "I think we're still capable of performing better than we did last week even though we are still training. It's a matter of mental toughness and focus, not so much the volume we are training"
(01/27/03 5:57am)
WEST LAFAYETTE -- The No. 14 men's track and field team stumbled in a three-way meet involving No. 13 Purdue and Ohio State Saturday. The team traveled to Purdue for the second indoor meet of the season.\nAfter controlling the opening meet of the season at Michigan, the team struggled in their first competitive meet of the season. An unimpressed coach Marshall Goss said he thought the team did not show an impressive team mentality.\n"As a whole, there's no reason to participate the way we did," Goss said. "With some guys, there's too much 'me' and not enough 'we.' We've got to get out of that if we want to be competitive."\nThe team finished second to Purdue by only four points. In many areas, the team was quite impressive. Sophomore Aarik Wilson won both the triple jump and the long jump and freshman Sean Jefferson kicked his way to a victory in the mile. Sophomore Russell Hollis earned the win in the 600-meter and the 4x400-meter.\n"I think the way some people were feeling may have affected their competitiveness, but in general everyone still brings a lot to the table," junior Ryan Sarbinoff said. "Everything will come together just fine."\nSarbinoff said he thought the team will be much better in the big meets, such as the Indiana Invitational Feb. 7 and 8. He said other teams have more depth but not the top-end talent that scores points in big meets. \nIU's training focuses more toward the later part of the indoor and outdoor season.\n"I just wanted to use this meet as part of a workout because we ran hard this last week and I didn't want to taper my training just for this race," Jefferson said. "It was just another tune up for getting ready later in the season."\nEven with training through the meet, Jefferson was still able to hold off a strong move from Ohio State's sophomore Aaron Fisher to earn the victory in the mile.\nOther impressive performances for the meet included senior Hasaan Reddick with a second place finish in the triple jump, Sarbinoff with a second place finish in the 400-meter and freshman Andre Grimes with a third place finish in the 60-meter dash.\n"There were some places we did well, but there were some places we really need to improve in," Goss said. "We've got to take this as a lesson and come back and correct our errors."\nThe team continues their dual meet season against Big Ten competition Saturday at Illinois. There, they will face Illinois, Missouri and Baylor.
(01/27/03 5:47am)
WEST LAFAYETTE -- The No. 14 men's track and field team stumbled in a three-way meet involving No. 13 Purdue and Ohio State Saturday. The team traveled to Purdue for the second indoor meet of the season.\nAfter controlling the opening meet of the season at Michigan, the team struggled in their first competitive meet of the season. An unimpressed coach Marshall Goss said he thought the team did not show an impressive team mentality.\n"As a whole, there's no reason to participate the way we did," Goss said. "With some guys, there's too much 'me' and not enough 'we.' We've got to get out of that if we want to be competitive."\nThe team finished second to Purdue by only four points. In many areas, the team was quite impressive. Sophomore Aarik Wilson won both the triple jump and the long jump and freshman Sean Jefferson kicked his way to a victory in the mile. Sophomore Russell Hollis earned the win in the 600-meter and the 4x400-meter.\n"I think the way some people were feeling may have affected their competitiveness, but in general everyone still brings a lot to the table," junior Ryan Sarbinoff said. "Everything will come together just fine."\nSarbinoff said he thought the team will be much better in the big meets, such as the Indiana Invitational Feb. 7 and 8. He said other teams have more depth but not the top-end talent that scores points in big meets. \nIU's training focuses more toward the later part of the indoor and outdoor season.\n"I just wanted to use this meet as part of a workout because we ran hard this last week and I didn't want to taper my training just for this race," Jefferson said. "It was just another tune up for getting ready later in the season."\nEven with training through the meet, Jefferson was still able to hold off a strong move from Ohio State's sophomore Aaron Fisher to earn the victory in the mile.\nOther impressive performances for the meet included senior Hasaan Reddick with a second place finish in the triple jump, Sarbinoff with a second place finish in the 400-meter and freshman Andre Grimes with a third place finish in the 60-meter dash.\n"There were some places we did well, but there were some places we really need to improve in," Goss said. "We've got to take this as a lesson and come back and correct our errors."\nThe team continues their dual meet season against Big Ten competition Saturday at Illinois. There, they will face Illinois, Missouri and Baylor.
(01/24/03 7:22pm)
Saturday the No. 14 men's indoor track and field team travels to West Lafayette for their most ferocious competition of the young season. The team will face rivals No. 13 Purdue and Ohio State. The meet begins Saturday morning at Lambert Fieldhouse. \nThe team opened the season successfully last weekend, handily defeating No. 22 Michigan, Michigan State and Kent State in Michigan. The team used the meet to gain competition experience, as they will use most of the dual meets in the indoor season.\n"I feel we learned a lot about what we need to improve with," junior Casey Friske said. "I definitely found what I need to work on."\nThe team enjoyed the opportunity to see where the athletes are in their training and what areas need improvement for the meet this weekend. The team was happy with the win but not satisfied.\n"We struggled in some places, being our first meet out," coach Marshall Goss said. "We have some places we're going to need to correct and get better."\nOne of the areas Goss was referring to was the distance corps, a group which did not provide as many points as the coaches would have liked. However, the philosophy of the distance runners gears more toward the later parts of the season, and Goss is confident that the group will come around.\n"We just basically wanted to go out and get a race under out belts," sophomore distance runner Eric Redman said. "We're pretty much training as hard as we can right now so we can be ready for the later part of indoor and outdoor."\nSeveral athletes stood out at Michigan, especially sophomore Aarik Wilson who jumped for a NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the triple jump with 52' 3". He looks to continue his success this weekend. Others who provided strong points for the team and look to lead the team this weekend were junior Contrell Ash and junior Ryan Sarbinoff.\nOne athlete who stepped in for an injured teammate and provided strong points was sophomore decathlete Jake Wiseman. Wiseman provided unexpected depth in the pole vault with a personal record vault and looks to continue his success.\nGoss said that he expects more impressive performances this weekend. He said that every event should leave the spectators satisfied.\n"It's going to be a great three-way track meet and it's just going to be loaded," Goss said. "Teams are going to have weak areas, but when you put it all together there won't be any weak areas to watch."\nWith such capable competition, the team hopes to have other athletes attain their provisional marks for the NCAA meet. Goss said that he expected many events to have marks worthy of pushing the provisional marks.
(01/22/03 5:24am)
Last week, heading into the opening indoor meet of the season at Michigan, a wounded pole vault corps found itself in a grave situation.\nFreshman David Stead suffered a season-ending broken arm. Two fifth-year seniors remained on the roster, however their eligibility for the indoor season had been previously spent. Such left junior Casey Friske the only pole-vaulter on the indoor roster.\nThus answered sophomore Jake Wiseman, a decathlete with limited experience in the pole vault. Wiseman stepped in for Stead and broke his personal record by almost two feet with a jump of 14'7" to earn a fourth place finish and give the team five valuable points.\n"He just did a really great job in the pole vault," coach Marshall Goss said. "He had never vaulted over twelve feet in his life before then. That's a great example of how one steps up to the challenge when someone goes down."\nHe also competed in the shot put and high jump where he placed 10th and seventh respectively, scoring eight total points in the team's winning effort.\n"He was just really pumped up and ready to go," Friske said. "One of the only reasons he didn't go higher was because we ran out of poles."\nWiseman, a transfer from the University of Louisville, did not even compete in track until his junior year of high school at Corydon Central High School in Corydon, Ind. He was a standout in the long jump and hurdling events in high school and found he was quite a versatile athlete. When he made it to Louisville, he competed in the decathlon and qualified for Junior Nationals as a freshman. After his freshman year, he transferred to Indiana where he redshirted last season.\n"That meet this weekend was basically my first meet in a year and a half," Wiseman said. "I just knew that I wanted to do good. There's been a lot of preparation for this year."\nThe indoor season does not have a decathlon so Wiseman will spend the indoor track season competing in different events to keep sharp for each event. He will continue to fill in at the pole vault where he hopes to reach 16 feet by the end of the season.\n"I'm not really that good at any single event," Wiseman said. "I'm just all right at all of them."\nWiseman will find out this weekend if he can keep his consistency for the pole vault. He said that he is always positive about competition and hopes to jump even higher than last weekend. His teammates said that consistency should not be a problem for Wiseman.\n"He's a pretty big guy and real strong," Friske said. "I think he'll have the consistency where we won't have to worry about that from him. Everyone has a bad day, but with the strong guys, if they have a bad day, you can muscle right through it"
(01/21/03 5:52am)
The No. 16 men's track and field team opened the indoor season with a win Saturday at Michigan with a four-way track meet with No. 25 Michigan, Kent State and Michigan State. The Hoosiers scored 172 points leaving runner-up Michigan behind by 15 points.\nThe team came away with five first place finishes in the meet, two from sophomore Aarik Wilson. Wilson was victorious in the long jump and triple jump, exceeding the NCAA provisional standard in the triple jump. Also earning victories were junior Ryan Sarbinoff in the 400m with a time of 49.2, junior Contrell Ash in the 200m with a time of 22.11 and the 4x400m relay team with a time of 3:17.47. Ash also earned runner-up in the 60m with in 6.99.\n"We struggled in places, being our first meet out, and we have some places we need to correct and get better," coach Marshall Goss said. "We had some people who came on and did real well, but for the most part it was just kind of a typical meet for us. It's nothing to celebrate over but nothing to be disappointed with."\nOne of the athletes who Goss said stepped up for the team was sophomore Jake Wiseman. Earlier in the week freshman pole vaulter David Stead went out for the season with a broken arm, leaving the team with only one main pole vaulter for the indoor season. Wiseman, a multi-event athlete, responded to the injury by filling in and breaking his personal record in the event by almost two feet for a fourth place finish in the event.\n"It's just phenomenal how he did in the pole vault," fellow pole vaulter and junior Casey Friske said. "He's been working on the pole vault lately but not really that much. He was just really pumped up and ready to go."\nAlso putting out impressive performances were junior Mike Minton who placed second in both the shot put and weight throw and sophomore Eric Redman who finished fourth in the mile. Junior Russell Hollis finished a second ahead of his brother Rodney in the 600m as they placed second and third, respectively.\n"We're pretty much training as hard as we can right now so we can be ready for the later part of indoor and outdoor," Redman said. "We basically just went out to see what we can do."\nRedman said the distance team was running around 85 miles per week.\nNext weekend the team continues its dual meet competition, traveling to West Lafayette for competition against rivals Purdue and Ohio State. Goss said he expects a much tougher meet at Purdue than they encountered this weekend.\n"Our main objective is getting into a position to improve for the Big Ten Championships," Goss said. "In doing so, we've got to win to be able to do that."\nThe meet begins at 10 a.m. Saturday in Lambert Fieldhouse in West Lafayette.
(01/17/03 6:03am)
The No. 16 men's track and field team travels to Michigan Saturday to open their indoor season. There they will face No. 24 Michigan, Kent State and Michigan State in a four-way competition.\nThe low emphasis meet benefits the team as it gives coach Marshall Goss an early opportunity to assess the athletes who otherwise would not have as likely a chance for success.\n"We'll give each person an opportunity to see where they fit in with the team and the Big Ten in general," Goss said. "We use all of our meets up to the Big Ten (Championships) as a competitive opportunity to get personal records, if that's what is important, or to achieve marks for the NCAA meet. Whatever we need to do, we'll do."\nThe team will travel light in some areas, especially in distance. Only the three that are running in each event will make the trip. \n"We're not bringing up a lot of guys this weekend," freshman Sean Jefferson said. "We're going to take some guys up there and see what we can do and where we are in our training."\nOne of the team's main priorities in the meet is to stay healthy. Later in the season Goss will compete his best athletes in multiple events to maximize their productivity. For this meet, however, he will look to keep his athletes healthy.\n"We don't want to come out of this with injuries or things like that so were not going to triple or quadruple our runners," Goss said. "They're going to run their events and get ready for the next meet."\nAlready in the season the team lost a critical athlete to injury at pole vault. The roster lists five pole vaulters. But two have completed their indoor track eligibility and another is redshirting. The injury left junior Casey Friske as the only remaining pole vaulter.\n"Just on pure lack of bodies we're going to lose some points for this meet and the whole season," Friske said. "It's going to be hard to overcome and I'll just have to really work hard to get higher places to overcome the lack of points. We'll only have one body where other schools will have two or three."\nThe Hoosiers enter the season with the high expectations of a team that has a high number of returning athletes. The team finished fourth in the Big Ten Championships in last year's outdoor competition. Triple jumper Aarik Wilson finished fourth at the NCAA meet last year and earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year for outdoor track. Distance runner John Jefferson was All-American in the mile and was Big Ten Freshman of the Year for cross country this fall. Both look to add on to their success this year.\nThe team will continue competition next Saturday in a meet at West Lafayette involving Purdue and Ohio State.
(11/26/02 5:14am)
TERRE HAUTE -- For the first time in the IU's history both the No. 15 men and No. 20 women's cross country teams competed in the NCAA Championships Monday.\nThe meet was a double win for the women's team. The team bettered their ranking by six spots for a 14th place finish and they also defeated rival Michigan, who finished in 15th place.\nThe women have feuded with Michigan since last year's indoor track season where they were narrowly defeated at the Big Ten Championships.\n"I think it also has a lot to do with us being better than them but just not having five girls on at the same time," coach Judy Wilson said.\nThe women's team is one of the most improved in the nation this year. They finished fourth in Districts after a 12th place performance last year. This was also the first season the team has qualified for the NCAA Championships since 1990.\n"It's been an unbelievable year," Wilson said. "I told the girls we could place in the top 15 if things fell into place."\nThe week was extra-special for Wilson as earlier this week, she gave birth to a baby boy, Hunter.\nThe women relied all season on youth and the young runners pulled through in the biggest meet. Three true freshmen, Jessica Gall (113th), Lindsay Hattendorf (145th) and Kelly Siefker (247th), ran for the Hoosiers. Sophomore Mindy Peterson led the way for the team with a 59th place finish. Juniors Audrey Giesler and Becky Obrecht and sophomore Amber Miller also placed for the Hoosiers, finishing in 77th, 153rd and 235th, respectively. \nFive of the seven girls set new personal records for the eight-kilometer race.\n"It takes a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck," Wilson said.\nLuck, however, was not on the men's side Monday. They came in hoping for a top-15 finish but placed 25th.\n"It's about as close to a meltdown as you could have," coach Robert Chapman said. "I feel really bad for the guys because they did everything they could do."\nNo. 11 Central Michigan, who the team lost by only one point to at Districts, finished ninth in the meet.\nThe men were led by freshmen John (77th) and Sean Jefferson(91st) with times of 30:57 and 31:04, respectively, over the ten kilometer course. The men's team followed the women's example and ran with four freshmen in their top seven. Eric Redman (168th) and Stephen Haas (205th) joined the Jefferson twins in the team's top seven. Also running for the team were juniors Bart Phariss and Nathan Purcell and sophomore Tom Burns, who finished in 196th, 215th and 178th place respectively.\nChapman said that he was not sure what caused the team's dismal performance but said that experience may have came into play. Only Phariss and Purcell have NCAA Championship meet experience and the meet is far bigger than any team has ran earlier this season.\nThe team ran impressively all season, including a fourth place finish at Districts a week ago. \nChapman said it was just a matter of an off day with bad timing.\n"I was shocked," Redman said. "It was different than any other race I've ever ran in. I didn't know my place or anything."\nRedman said the experience of running in the meet will benefit him for the future as he will have a better idea for a race strategy.\nBoth teams will be able to use the season to move forward in the future. Neither team graduates any runners and each have several young runners leading the team.\n"This is just our warm-up," Wilson said. "Who knows where we could be next year"
(11/25/02 4:52am)
Today the No. 15 men's cross country team heads to Terre Haute to take on the best in the nation at the NCAA Championships. The team earned an at-large bid to the meet after a fourth place finish at the Great Lakes Regional in West Lafayette last weekend.\nCoach Robert Chapman said the team should be around 15th place if they run similar to their race at Regionals, but the team hopes to finish in the top 10. The team race is so deep that if they do not have a great race, they could fall back to around 20th, he said.\nThe team will use this meet largely for experience purposes. After today, the team will have 10 runners who have run in the NCAA Championships. Four of the team's top seven this year are freshmen. Also the team will return seniors Chad Andrews and Chris Powers, who redshirted, next season. Both seniors have All-American potential. This meet will give the team a solid foundation to build on.\n"I know we have the talent and work ethic to be elite," freshman John Jefferson said. "It was just going to be a matter of time before that talent came out. Now we are running on all cylinders."\nChapman said the team's training was oriented toward the later part of the season. He said they cruised through some of the earlier meets with their focus on Regionals and the NCAA Championships. Last season the team tired toward the end of the season, but this year they still feel fresh.\n"None of our guys are even close to burned out," Chapman said. "Most of the teams will take a week or two off after the season is over but our guys will probably take Tuesday off and run Wednesday."\nLeading the Hoosiers will be freshmen John and Sean Jefferson. Both have earned All Big Ten honors and both have been Big Ten Runner of the Week. John Jefferson was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Today they could add All-American status to their résumé. \nJunior Bart Phariss, sophomore Tom Burns and freshman Eric Redman have also been a part of the top five for the Hoosiers. Phariss ran at the NCAA Championships in 2000 where he placed 205th. The team placed 17th in that meet.\nJunior Nathan Purcell and freshman Stephen Haas will also race for the team. Purcell ran in the 2000 meet and placed 163rd.\nThe team has run twice at Terre Haute this season, and their experience on the course could help.\n"I think knowing the course will give me a bit of an advantage over the other guys who have never run there before," Sean Jefferson said.\nThe ten kilometer race begins at 1:15 p.m. and is at the Vern Gibson Championship Course.
(11/20/02 4:37am)
Men's cross country coach Robert Chapman wants to know how many top teams there are at IU. \n"How many top-15 programs do we have this school?," the coach asked.\nIn any event, his team became one yesterday as the new poll released by the NCAA ranked the Hoosier men as No. 15 in the nation.\n"I'm really proud of these guys," Chapman said. "They've done an amazing job, and everybody has played an integral part. I think since this is the second of the last three seasons we've made it to Nationals and we've spent all three of those seasons ranked in the Top 20 shows that we've got something special." \nAfter an impressive fourth place performance at the Great Lakes Regional where they finished one point behind No. 11 Central Michigan, the men's cross country team enters the NCAA Championships with momentum on their side.\n"I know we have the talent and the work ethic on the team to be elite," freshman John Jefferson said. "It was just going to be a matter of time before that talent came out, and now we are running on all cylinders."\nThe Hoosiers seem on the verge of reaching that elite level. The team does not graduate any seniors this year and has three freshmen in their top five. Also next year, seniors Chad Andrews and Chris Powers will come off their redshirt seasons to help lead the team.\n"We always looked at next year as the big year," Chapman said. "We'll have six guys with All-American potential and ten guys with Nationals experience, and we're not losing any of these guys. Next year we hope to be in the top five."\nThe team has accomplished this feat with the fewest number of scholarships of any cross country team in the top-30. The team's scholarships are used with track and field, which has 12.6. Less than three of those go toward cross country. Most top cross country teams compete with three times that amount.\nChapman said that one of the main reasons for the Hoosiers' success is the dedication of the team. He said every day revolves around running for the team, from their diet and when they can eat to what they do on the weekends.\n"As a group, everyone has bought in to what we are about," Chapman said. "These guys are in season from mid-August through mid-June. This becomes a lifestyle. They can't take anything for granted."\nThe team heads to Terre Haute for the NCAA Championships only nine days after their Regionals. Chapman said the team should be fine with the short amount of rest because they cruised through the first part of the season and their training focuses on strength.\nThe NCAA Championships will be the team's third meet at Terre Haute this season. Freshman Sean Jefferson said earlier this season that he felt the experience of running on the course would pay off and give the team an advantage at Nationals.\n"We have stayed really consistent throughout the year," John Jefferson said. "We are confident that we are really strong right now and looking forward to Nationals."\nChapman said if the team runs the same as it did at Districts, they should be around 14th or 15th place. He said that if everything goes right, they hope to finish in the top ten.\nAnd, for the record, men's cross country is one of only two programs at the school in the top-15.