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(03/27/13 2:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After weather cut last weekend’s meet short, the Indiana men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete again this week at the Texas Relays.This week marks a strange hiccup in the normally regimented schedule on which the team operates. While they usually compete exclusively on the weekends, several athletes will compete today and Thursday in Austin, Texas.Many athletes who competed in the Alabama Relays will skip out on the Texas Relays. Associate Head Coach Jeff Huntoon said the team is using this meet mostly for multi-event competitors to get a shot at all their events with a couple days rest in between. “It’s by far the shortest turnaround time we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Huntoon said. “We planned it this way to shake things up.”Competing without sufficient rest can often lead to injury when not properly monitored. But Huntoon said he was confident the team could avoid this issue.“We have no concern for injury any more than we normally would,” Huntoon said. “This is structured exactly the way we intended, and we’ve taken the steps to minimize that risk.”Besides injury, another thing on the minds of these student athletes are the effects that traveling during the week has on schoolwork. During the indoor track and field season, the Hoosiers host the majority of their meets to take advantage of the facilities in Gladstein Fieldhouse. Outdoor season adds the challenge of travel to the equation. Six of IU’s eight regular season outdoor meets are on the road.“It’s just something that happens during the outdoor season,” Huntoon said. “They’ve got to prepare for school and communicate with their teachers a lot more than indoor. At the same time, it can benefit us because we get to see more venues and even different teams and competitors.”Though the Alabama Relays last weekend were cut short and left unfinished because of inclement weather, the forecast in Austin for the meet reads low 70s with a small chance of precipitation.While the Hoosiers hope that forecast holds true, they will look for good performances regardless of the weather. After the Alabama Relays, Huntoon had much praise for the younger athletes who competed. He said he’s looking for more leadership from upperclassmen this time around. Huntoon mentioned IU senior Courtney Woodard as one particular athlete to keep an eye on.“(Woodard) really deserves a chance to compete against top competition,” Huntoon said. “Sending her to Texas is a no-brainer for us.”One group who won’t be represented in Texas is the IU distance runners. They’ll be sent to the Stanford Relays this weekend.The distance running program at IU has emerged as a nationally elite program, but the Hoosiers are still catching up in other areas. “We’ve wanted to get back to being a part of it in sprints and jumps for a while now,” Huntoon said. “This meet will give us a chance to do that.”
(03/25/13 4:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The weather mimicked the March Madness spirit this weekend in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as the IU men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in their first outdoor meet of the year.The weather held off just enough at the Alabama Relays on Friday but wouldn’t let up on Saturday, and the meet was called before several Hoosiers were able to compete.Despite the weather, Associate Head Coach Jeff Huntoon said he thought the majority of his athletes competed well.“The weather made it a challenge for them to control what they could control and deal with what they couldn’t,” Huntoon said. “We got some good performances from some young athletes before they called the meet.”While they couldn’t pull out a win on Friday, the Hoosiers posted eight top-four finishes on the day. Sophomore Molly Winters took second overall in the women’s 5000-meter run but first among collegiate competitors. Her time of 17:02.42 was a personal record by almost 30 seconds.“Yes, without a doubt, Friday was a success,” Huntoon said. “More than anything, I was proud of the attitude our kids showed. They weren’t complaining about the weather, they just went out and competed.”Saturday, though cut short, provided the Hoosiers with their first individual victory of the outdoor season. Senior Caitlin Engel won the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:31.86. Second went to her teammate freshman Brianna Johnson, who was participating in her first collegiate steeplechase.Sophomore Taja Moore competed in the discus, and her throw of 48.10-meters (157-feet-10-inches) was good enough for third in the competition.The men’s distance medley relay, consisting of freshmen Jordan Gornall and Nathan Pierre-Louis and sophomores Rorey Hunter and Evan Esselink, took second with a time of 9:53.36. They were less than two seconds off Alabama’s winning time of 9:51.62.Huntoon said while he was proud of his team’s performances, nobody stepped up and wowed him.“There wasn’t really anyone that stuck out individually,” Huntoon said. “It was a situation where, as a group, we came together.“I was really happy with the group of freshmen who came out and competed really well. But at the same time, they also showed why they are freshmen. There were some issues on handoffs that need work among other things.”Huntoon said the most disappointing aspect of the weekend proved to be the weather that prevented several IU athletes from competing.“We brought 49 athletes, and we had 30 of those ready to compete in the final 30 minutes on Saturday,” Huntoon said. “So when they finally cancelled the meet, it disrupted a lot of what we were trying to accomplish.”
(03/08/13 5:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Gladstein Fieldhouse is silent. All eyes are on the 6-foot-5-inch figure standing 20 yards from the high jump bar. His body is relaxed and both feet are directly under him. His shoulders rise as he takes a deep breath. A few short, slow steps followed by several powerful strides forward, and he’s at the bar.On the last step, he drives his foot into the ground and launches his body upward. He arches his back as he flies diagonally over and across the bar. His feet kick up just in time, and his back and neck hit the soft cushion. The momentum flips his body backward. He lands gracefully on his feet. The crowd explodes, barely believing they just saw someone jump more than seven-and-a-half feet in the air — Cody Zeller with a soda can on his head. The athlete walks off the mat and raises his head in relief. Derek Drouin has broken a Gladstein Fieldhouse 25-year-old record. The IU fifth-year senior’s clearance of 2.32 meters (7-7.25 feet) is the result of years of training, sacrifice and competitive drive channeled into a single five-second block of time.“I always wanted to be an athlete, but I waited until a sport chose me.”Drouin hails from a small town in Ontario called Corunna. He said his elementary school offered six different sports, and he did all of them. Inspired by his older sister’s success in high jump and hurdles, Drouin figured he might be okay at that as well.Family influence played a big part in Drouin’s development as an athlete and a person. His oldest sister, Jillian, graduated from Syracuse University as a decorated track athlete and his other sister, Alysha, graduated from Adrian College in Michigan after playing three years on a hockey scholarship. As someone who has worked closely with Drouin for years, IU Coach Jeff Huntoon said Drouin is a product of his parents.“He is the best of his mom and dad, without a doubt,” Huntoon said. “I think the competitive spirit that lies within him comes from his mom’s side. If two people are walking up to a door of a Wal-Mart, she’s going to be the first through the door. She’s not going to let anyone ahead of her.“And that cool composure comes from his dad. You know he’s got all the emotions going on inwardly, but he’s laid back outwardly.”While Drouin was obviously physically gifted, he credits his competitive drive for his early success in sports.“I always did okay in any sport that I did,” Drouin said. “When you’re that young, competitiveness and success go hand in hand. It wasn’t really until high school that track and field emerged as something I could excel at.”And excel he did. As a sophomore, Drouin proved he had the potential to compete at the NCAA level, but he said it wasn’t until his junior year that those kinds of thoughts entered his head. It didn’t enter NCAA coaches’ heads until later. Despite being a two-time Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations gold medalist in the high jump, Drouin received little attention from big schools in the NCAA.Drouin said it wasn’t until March of his senior year that he received his first email from IU. That April, he took a visit to the campus, and in June he committed. “Everything came on pretty late,” Drouin said. “I think at that point I had already decided I was going to school in Canada. I’d already accepted my letter of admittance and everything, so I sort of had to back out of that.“I would consider high jumping a hobby. Sports are a lifestyle.”Drouin is already one of the most decorated athletes to ever call himself an IU student. He is a three-time NCAA Champion, a six-time Big Ten Champion, a four-time Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year and an Olympic bronze medalist.Yet he is rarely recognized on campus. He never takes his Olympic medal out in public, unless it’s needed for a special event. He doesn’t walk around campus telling people who he is. He doesn’t wear the IU Athletics clothing he has — he prefers jeans. When he came home from London last summer, Corunna threw a big parade in his honor. It’s not often that someone from a town of just 15,000 people wins an Olympic medal.Drouin was asked after the event whether the Olympic finals or the parade were more nerve-wracking.“Being in a parade, for sure,” Drouin said, laughing. That kind of humility is reflected even while competing. While other competitors try to get the crowd going by clapping and stomping around before jumping, Drouin silently prepares for his jumps.While other competitors flex their muscles and shout from excitement when clearing a high bar, Drouin will maybe flash a smile. Maybe.Part of that modesty may stem from the fact that Drouin said he considers high jump just a hobby. “I have a hard time calling high jump a lifestyle,” Drouin said. “For me, sports are a lifestyle. Bettering myself as an athlete, because I love to do it, not necessarily for the high jump gains, would be the lifestyle.”For something that’s just a hobby, high jumping has brought Drouin quite a bit of success throughout his college career. As a freshman, he finished second in the high jump at the Big Ten Indoor Championships and NCAA Indoor Championships.His sophomore year found him winning NCAA high jump titles in both indoor and outdoor track. This made him only the second Hoosier in history to win a title indoors and outdoors in the same academic year. Drouin’s junior year started promisingly when he won his third NCAA title in the high jump during indoor competition. But, it turned disastrous during the first outdoor meet of the season.“It was my very last jump of the competition,” Drouin said. “I took off and didn’t realize it at the time, but I heard a pop, which is never good. “It turned out that I had torn three ligaments in my foot. It was a pretty substantial injury, and it was going to be basically a restructuring of my foot and about a nine-month recovery.”Drouin received a medical redshirt for the 2010-11 outdoor season (his third year at IU) and the following indoor season before rejoining the team for the 2011-12 outdoor season.Nine months later, Drouin was still hurting. He said he finally felt like he could jump, but not without pain. Doctors had assured him he would be ready for the 2012 Olympics, but if he were to go at this point, he wouldn’t be competing without discomfort.“That’s when I realized how big the stage was.”Drouin said he had trained his whole life with the hope of going to the Olympics. His foot was still bothering him, but he had not come this far only to let a few torn ligaments hold him back.Drouin had already hit the qualification marks to go to the Canadian Trials during the outdoor season leading up to that summer. Since there were only two Canadians who had done that and countries can send three athletes, there was some pressure relieved from Drouin’s shoulders.“It’s still stressful,” Drouin said. “After I qualified at Big Ten’s, I had to keep telling myself that I’m not on the team yet. After trials it was a pretty emotional time, though.”When the time came, Drouin traveled with the rest of Canada’s best athletes to Europe. He regretted missing the Opening Ceremonies while he was in a training camp in Germany to give him the best chance for success. At first, it didn’t look like the camp had worked. Drouin got off to a shaky start in the preliminary round. He missed twice at 2.21 meters (7-3) before clearing that bar on his final try, a bar on which he usually is routinely successful. He jumped 2.26 meters (7-5) on his second attempt. He then missed twice again at 2.29 meters (7-6) before clearing that to secure sixth place and a spot in the finals.Coach Huntoon came to the rescue. Huntoon was there with the U.S. team and had watched Derek limp into the finals. The two met up the next day to discuss what needed to be done.“I wish I could tell you I had some magic bullet phrase I gave him,” Huntoon said. “We just talked about going back to the basics, and I told him that he’s the one still out there whose name they’re calling. He survived the hard day. Now it was time to just go out and have fun.”If Drouin thinks Olympic medals are fun, he certainly listened to his coach. Along with jumpers from Great Britain and Qatar, Drouin was clean through 2.29 meters before three misses on 2.33 meters (7-7.75). He locked up a share of the bronze medal and took a victory lap around the stadium, wearing a Canadian flag signed by friends from Corunna.“I like to go into competition and just be competitive.” The silver medalist from those games was the U.S.’s own Erik Kynard Jr., Drouin’s longtime rival in the high jump. Kynard attends Kansas State University and, like Drouin, returned for his senior year en lieu of going pro. In every way that Drouin is quiet and humble, Kynard is loud and a showman. While Drouin is the picture of consistency and mechanics, Kynard is pure athleticism and explosion. The two could not be more different.“We’re both very competitive people,” Drouin said, finding a similarity. “We have a strong and healthy competitive spirit with each other.“We’re two very very different competitors so it’s nice that the audience gets to see that. So they get to see two sides of the spectrum, and hopefully we put on a good competition and make it fun to watch.”The two have competed since before Kynard was in college and have built an individual rivalry very rarely seen in college track and field. The last time two Olympic medalists in a single event returned to compete against each other in college in that event was in 1984 between a couple 200-meter runners. The last time it happened between high jumpers was 1937.Kynard and Drouin have split their head-to-head series 5-5 with Drouin winning three of the first five and Kynard taking three of the second five. Currently, Kynard sits at the top of the NCAA rankings at 2.33m. He cleared that the weekend after Drouin’s 2.32m jump. Unless a dark horse emerges from the field, this looks to be a two-man race for the 2013 NCAA Indoor title.Drouin said he tries not to pay attention to what his competition is doing and focuses on himself.“That being said, it’s hard not to find out,” Drouin said. “It doesn’t matter what you jumped in January or February. It matters what you jumped that day. That’s why they have the meet.”Drouin considers himself an athlete more than a high jumper. He finished third in the Big Ten heptathlon, displaying his variety of skills along the way. At the 2012 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Drouin decided he wanted to compete in the javelin throw. He finished eighth, scoring a point for the Hoosiers.“I don’t know how many people have seen a 6’5” beanpole hockey player, but he’s very good,” Huntoon said. “Basketball is probably the only sport he’s not good at, but he’s a lot more of a competitor in many different avenues than people would know.”Drouin said he is just another guy who loves sports and is particularly good at one of them. While he loves track and field, he doesn’t let it dominate his life. He plays all kinds of sports and hangs out with friends whenever he can get a free moment. But at 3:30 CST this Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark., Drouin will go for one more NCAA Indoor Championship. He said he’s finally feeling pain-free and back to normal these past few months and is ready to add to his already distinguished trophy case.“This is a very lofty goal, but if a collegiate record came with the competition, that would be pretty awesome,” Drouin said.Were Drouin, the Corunna kid with a hobby, to add a collegiate high jump record to his long list of accolades, he would go down as one of the top field athletes in NCAA history.
(03/08/13 3:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Eight members of the IU men’s and women’s track and field teams will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., March 8-9. There, they will meet the best the NCAA has to offer in the NCAA Indoor Championship Meet.The Hoosiers will send four individual qualifiers to the championship meet: junior Kyla Buckley and seniors Andy Bayer, Zach Mayhew and Derek Drouin. Sophomore Rorey Hunter, freshman Nathan Pierre-Louis and graduate student Lance Roller will be joined by Bayer in the Distance Medley Relay with freshman Jordan Gornall as an alternate. The DMR team barely snuck into the field last weekend, finishing in 11th out of the 27 teams trying for a spot in NCAA’s. Twelve teams made it and IU only beat 13th place by two tenths of a second.“We were lucky to get in,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “But we always focus on getting in first. Once you’re there, anything can happen because everyone handles the meet differently.”The Hoosiers have finished second in the men’s DMR the past two years and will look to score major points once again.The last leg of IU’s DMR is Bayer, the defending NCAA Outdoor 1500-meter champion. Helmer said Bayer is the best anchor IU has ever had, and he is incredibly important to the success of this relay. Hunter and Pierre-Louis have never qualified for NCAA’s.“I‘ve just told them to relax and treat it like any other race,” Bayer said. “The more pressure you put on yourself the harder it gets. They don’t need to do anything extra or different. Just run how they’ve been running and we’ll do well.”Bayer is also competing in the 3000-meter run, where he took third at the Big Ten meet two weeks ago. One of the competitors he lost to at Big Ten’s was Mayhew, who has been to NCAA Championship meets for outdoor track and cross country, but never indoor. He is one of the few 3000-meter runners who is not doubling in another event. Helmer said he wasn’t sure whether that would be to Mayhew’s benefit.“It’s not going to hurt him,” Helmer said. “But will he be at an advantage? I don’t know, but I hope so.”Buckley is the sole female representative from IU and will compete in shot put. All season long, Buckley has said she is an elite athlete that can compete with the best in the nation. She’s getting that chance to prove it on Saturday.The final competitor for the Hoosiers is senior high jumper Derek Drouin. He’ll square off against long-time rival Erik Kynard for the last time at an NCAA indoor meet. The two have split the series 5-5 during their careers. Helmer said Drouin is capable of winning, but he may have to jump to a world record to do so.“As noteworthy as Derek Drouin winning the Olympic bronze medal was, Erik Kynard won the silver,” Helmer said. “So what he has to do is be one of the best high jumpers in the world. But the thought process is to jump as high as you can and let the rest of it take care of itself.”
(03/04/13 5:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If anyone was concerned about the IU distance medley relay team performing under pressure, their worries were assuaged Friday.When the IU men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled up to Notre Dame last weekend for the Alex Wilson Invitational, everyone knew all eyes would be on the DMR. Twenty-five teams entered the event, including every NCAA contender except Texas. The Longhorns felt their national leading mark of 9:31.82 would keep them in the nation’s top 12 after the weekend.The teams were divided into three heats that meet management tried to make as even as possible. IU was sitting second nationally — right behind Texas. IU Coach Ron Helmer said he made the decision to run his team one more time to secure their spot.The first heat produced the top five times in the NCAA this year and seven in the top 12 at that time. Five teams moved into the top 12 from the second heat. As it stood, IU had been bumped out of the national top 12. Texas was sitting in 11th. “It was nerve-wracking,” Helmer said. “We watched the first two heats put up some great times. It forced us into a corner and we knew we had to do more.”They did more.IU sophomore Rorey Hunter led off the event for the Hoosiers and had them in third after the first exchange at the 1200-meter mark. Freshman Nathan Pierre-Louis and graduate student Lance Roller kept that position before handing off to senior Andy Bayer.Bayer took the last 1600 meters home in 3:59.4 to finish third. The Hoosiers finished with a time of 9:31.11, good for 11th nationally and a spot at the NCAA Championships. “When you have an anchor like we have, anything can happen,” Helmer said. “We proved we can compete when the pressure is on.”All twelve qualifying times were achieved at the meet and former national-leader Texas did not make the cut.Helmer said he would have sat his relay if they were in Texas’ place as well. In this way, he said it was a blessing in disguise for the Hoosiers that they hadn’t had a better time coming into the weekend.Another Hoosier competitor from Friday night included IU graduate student Scott Houston, who won the men’s pole vault, but failed to clear 5.42 meters (17 feet, 9.25 inches), the height necessary to qualify for the NCAA meet.Saturday was highlighted by redshirt freshman La Toya Williams running 55.69 seconds in the women’s 400-meter run and junior Robby Nierman’s 10th place finish in the mile, clocking at 4:02.77. Williams’ time is the 10th best in the IU record book.Helmer said even though a lot of people couldn’t get the heights and times that would get them an NCAA Championship Meet berth, he was still pleased with other parts of the meet.“We had a bunch of season bests,” Helmer said. “Other than getting those people qualified, that was our goal for a lot of people.”
(03/03/13 8:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If anyone was concerned about the IU distance medley relay team performing under pressure, their worries were assuaged Friday.When the IU men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled up to Notre Dame last weekend for the Alex Wilson Invitational, everyone knew all eyes would be on the DMR. Twenty-five teams entered the event, including every NCAA contender except Texas. The Longhorns felt their national leading mark of 9:31.82 would keep them in the nation’s top 12 after the weekend.The teams were divided into three heats that meet management tried to make as even as possible. Indiana was sitting second nationally — right behind Texas. IU Coach Ron Helmer said he made the decision to run his team one more time to secure their spot.The first heat produced the top five times in the NCAA this year and seven in the top 12 at that time. Five teams moved into the top 12 from the second heat. As it stood, Indiana had been bumped out of the national top 12. Texas was sitting in 11th. “It was nerve-wracking,” Helmer said. “We watched the first two heats put up some great times. It forced us into a corner and we knew we had to do more.”They did more.IU sophomore Rorey Hunter led off the event for the Hoosiers and had them in third after the first exchange at the 1200-meter mark. Freshman Nathan Pierre-Louis and graduate student Lance Roller kept that position before handing off to senior Andy Bayer.Bayer took the last 1600 meters home in 3:59.4 to finish third. The Hoosiers finished with a time of 9:31.11, good for 11th nationally and a spot at the NCAA Championships. “When you have an anchor like we have, anything can happen,” Helmer said. “We proved we can compete when the pressure is on.”All twelve qualifying times were achieved at the meet and former national-leader Texas did not make the cut.Helmer said he would have sat his relay if they were in Texas’ place as well. In this way, he said it was a blessing in disguise for the Hoosiers that they hadn’t had a better time coming into the weekend.Another Hoosier competitor from Friday night included IU graduate student Scott Houston, who won the men’s pole vault, but failed to clear 5.42 meters (17 feet 9.25 inches), the height that is necessary to qualify for the NCAA meet.Saturday was highlighted by redshirt freshman La Toya Williams running 55.69 seconds in the women’s 400-meter run and junior Robby Nierman’s 10th place finish in the mile, clocking at 4:02.77. Williams’ time is the 10th best in the IU record book.Helmer said even though a lot of people couldn’t get the heights and times that would get them an NCAA Championship Meet berth, he was still pleased with other parts of the meet.“We had a bunch of season bests,” Helmer said. “Other than getting those people qualified, that was our goal for a lot of people.”
(02/28/13 8:16pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>To get one last chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships, the IU men’s and women’s track and field teams will be sending athletes to Notre Dame, Ind., and Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend. IU senior Scott Houston and the men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams are among those who are headed to Ntore Dame for the Alex Wilson Invitational. A pair of high jumpers, senior Emma Kimoto and junior Darius King, will travel south to Fayetteville due to the better high jumping facilities there.Kimoto and King will be accompanied by IU Associate Head Coach Jeff Huntoon. Huntoon said he thinks every athlete IU is sending has a chance to qualify.“I wouldn’t put it past any or all of them to make it,” Huntoon said. “If (IU Coach Ron) Helmer didn’t think an athlete has the chance to go (to nationals), we wouldn’t bother putting you on the bus.”Two interesting cases coming out of the Big Ten Championship meet involve Kimoto and Houston. Both won their conference championship, yet dropped out of the national qualifying ranks for their respective event.“As soon as Scott got done, he was so happy about winning and I remember yelling across the track to him, ‘Hey, you’re not done yet,’” Huntoon said. “So I probably didn’t help him much with that.”“But he and Emma Kimoto at least competed at the bar that will make it in for them. So they’ve seen what they have to do.”The men’s distance medley relay is in a different position. That group is ranked second in the nation right now and is expected to at least qualify for a spot at the NCAA Championships.They will be competing this weekend just to ensure 11 teams don’t pass them on the final weekend for qualifications.With 26 teams entered in the event as of Tuesday morning, Helmer said he is not taking chances on that.“We’ve finished second the past two years so it’s a no-brainer to get them in,” Helmer said. “At the end of the night the top 12 groups get to go, so we’ve got to protect our spot.”IU graduate student Lance Roller, a member of that men’s DMR, will also compete in the 800-meter run. Roller is in his last season of indoor eligibility and has no outdoor eligibility left from his days at University of Virginia, so he’ll be fighting for one more chance to compete on a national stage as a student.“That might be part of the problem because you’re outside the normal training cycle without an outdoor season,” Helmer said. “When the clock’s ticking like that, it sometimes makes it worse because you start to press and try to make things happen instead of just relaxing and trusting and letting it come to you.”Helmer said his IU teams have had a lot of success in last-chance meets and he attributes that to the amount of races they run during the course of the season. “We’re not a pep rally team,” Helmer said. “We compete a lot more than some people because we don’t want to get too emotional on that one day. If we just relax then we can use the intensity of the moment to pull out some really great performances.”
(02/25/13 4:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Coach Ron Helmer said he felt a mixed bag of emotions while riding the bus home on Saturday from the Big Ten Track and Field Championships.Sixth- and 10th-place finishes by the IU men’s and women’s track and field teams can be bitter after watching some great individual performances.“Yeah, I was disappointed in where we ended in the standings,” Helmer said. “But I’m also really proud of our athletes. Our youth just kept us from supporting our older athletes.”During the two-day meet, the Hoosiers took home five individual championships — all won by upperclassmen.“We had a lot of good performances by our younger athletes, and they showed a lot of growth,” Helmer said. “Those seventh and eighth place finishes just don’t add up to a lot of points.”The biggest story of the weekend for IU was senior Derek Drouin. A late entry into the men’s heptathlon, Drouin made his presence known in the heptathlon’s high jump.Drouin cleared 2.30-meter (7-feet-6.5-inches) in the event, breaking the world record of 2.25-meters (7-feet-4.5-inches) for high jump in a heptathlon. Helmer said on Friday night he was sure the heptathlon would tire Drouin out for the open high jump the next day. After all, Drouin said he hasn’t jumped two days in a row since high school.Drouin answered by winning his third Big Ten indoor title with a successful clearance of 2.26-meters (7-feet-5-inchers). That height also broke the Big Ten indoor meet record set by Drouin two years ago. “He’s the person I’m most impressed with after this meet,” Helmer said. “To compete in seven events and then turn around an hour later to break the meet record in the high jump — that was pretty phenomenal.”The Hoosier men also scored a win from senior Zach Mayhew in the 5000-meter run. Mayhew now has his first indoor title to accompany his outdoor 10-kilometer and cross country Big Ten titles earned in 2012. The final conference title for the men came from IU graduate student Scott Houston in the pole vault. It is Houston’s first conference title of his career.The women’s team extended its conference champion streak to six on Friday when junior Kyla Buckley was crowned as the shotput champion. Senior Emma Kimoto followed with an individual title of her own in the women’s high jump.Kimoto said she made it her goal during her freshman season to win a Big Ten title before she departs from IU, and the fact she was the runner-up last year makes it that much sweeter.“I’ve had a really tough indoor season,” Kimoto said. “I had some problems in my approach, but it’s my senior year so I decided I had to win it.”The Alex Wilson Invitational is scheduled for March 1-2, and Helmer said he will need to send several athletes for their last chance to qualify for the national championship meet.Helmer offered some insight to how he views his team after its performance this weekend.“Great athletes know what they need to do to be successful,” Helmer said. “We showed that we have a lot of great athletes here, but with some other people, we still have quite a bit of work to do.”
(02/22/13 5:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 2013 Big Ten men’s and women’s Track and Field Championships will take place this weekend in Geneva, Ohio. The Hoosier men will look to defend their 2012 title and the women will try to improve on their eighth place finish from last year.Last year was Hoosiers’ first men’s championship win since 1992. IU seniors Andy Bayer, the two-time defending 3000-meter runner and one-time defending mile champion, and the high jumpers receive much of the credit. IU senior Derek Drouin won the titles in 2010 and 2011, but redshirted in 2012. Fellow senior Darius King stepped up in his absence last year to claim a title of his own.Bayer said defending his titles don’t add any pressure to his performances this weekend.“No matter what, going into the Big Ten meet, you know it’s going to be hard,” Bayer said. “I don’t think it’s going to be any easier this year than years past so I try not to look at it as any added pressure.”Senior Zach Mayhew (3000-meter, 5000-meter), graduate student Scott Houston (pole vault), sophomore Nick Stoner (60-meter) and graduate student Lance Roller (800-meter) are other Hoosiers looking to receive points. All these competitors have top-6 rankings in the conference heading into the championship meet.“We’re going to have to find ways to score in pretty much every event we have people entered in,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “Even if it’s a couple points here and a couple points there to go along with our big point scorers.”One of the bright spots on the women’s side heading into this weekend is the streak of five years in which the women have brought home a Big Ten individual title. The best chance to continue this streak likely lies in the throwing arm of junior Kyla Buckley or the legs of senior Kelsey Duerksen and sophomore Samantha Ginther. Buckley is seeded third on the conference’s shot put list and Ginther and Duerksen sit at second and third in the 3000m. High jumping senior Emma Kimoto also has a chance to make her mark at conference. She’s seeded seventh this year after finishing as the conference’s runner up in 2012. Freshman pole vaulters Sydney Clute and Sophie Gutermuth also have a chance to get their names out there. The two are tied for fifth in conference and are poised to make big strides with their first championship experience.Helmer said his hopes for the 108th-ranked women’s side are temperate.“I think if we hit it really hard, I think we can be a middle of the pack team,” Helmer said. “If we can get to the top half of the conference it would be a really great thing.”Although all the big-name athletes will be out to perform for the Hoosiers, Helmer said success isn’t only measured in points.“We’ll have some people do things that demonstrate real growth but don’t score points for us,” Helmer said. “But it’s still important for them to do that. It’s hard to predict that.“What I do know is we have a lot of young athletes who have the opportunity to make some really significant steps forward competing in a championship meet.”
(02/21/13 9:26pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 2013 Big Ten men’s and women’s Track and Field Championships will take place this weekend in Geneva, Ohio. The Hoosier men will look to defend their 2012 title and the women will try to improve on their eighth place finish from last year.Last year was Hoosiers’ first men’s championship win since 1992. IU seniors Andy Bayer, the two-time defending 3000-meter runner and one-time defending mile champion, and the high jumpers receive much of the credit. IU senior Derek Drouin won the titles in 2010 and 2011, but redshirted in 2012. Fellow senior Darius King stepped up in his absence last year to claim a title of his own.Bayer said defending his titles don’t add any pressure to his performances this weekend.“No matter what, going into the Big Ten meet, you know it’s going to be hard,” Bayer said. “I don’t think it’s going to be any easier this year than years past so I try not to look at it as any added pressure.”Senior Zach Mayhew (3000-meter, 5000-meter), graduate student Scott Houston (pole vault), sophomore Nick Stoner (60-meter) and graduate student Lance Roller (800-meter) are other Hoosiers looking to receive points. All these competitors have top-6 rankings in the conference heading into the championship meet.“We’re going to have to find ways to score in pretty much every event we have people entered in,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “Even if it’s a couple points here and a couple points there to go along with our big point scorers.”One of the bright spots on the women’s side heading into this weekend is the streak of five years in which the women have brought home a Big Ten individual title. The best chance to continue this streak likely lies in the throwing arm of junior Kyla Buckley or the legs of senior Kelsey Duerksen and sophomore Samantha Ginther. Buckley is seeded third on the conference’s shot put list and Ginther and Duerksen sit at second and third in the 3000m. High jumping senior Emma Kimoto also has a chance to make her mark at conference. She’s seeded seventh this year after finishing as the conference’s runner up in 2012. Freshman pole vaulters Sydney Clute and Sophie Gutermuth also have a chance to get their names out there. The two are tied for fifth in conference and are poised to make big strides with their first championship experience.Helmer said his hopes for the 108th-ranked women’s side are temperate.“I think if we hit it really hard, I think we can be a middle of the pack team,” Helmer said. “If we can get to the top half of the conference it would be a really great thing.”Although all the big-name athletes will be out to perform for the Hoosiers, IU Coach Ron Helmer said success isn’t only measured in points.“We’ll have some people do things that demonstrate real growth but don’t score points for us,” Helmer said. “But it’s still important for them to do that. It’s hard to predict that.“What I do know is we have a lot of young athletes who have the opportunity to make some really significant steps forward competing in a championship meet.”
(02/20/13 5:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s basketball program gets most of the hype for developing players, but a lesser-known example of athlete improvement is taking place in Gladstein Fieldhouse. Senior Zach Mayhew joined the IU track and field team in one of IU Coach Ron Helmer’s early years in Bloomington, a time when Helmer said the recruitment plan consisted more of finding good kids ready to work and less of finding pure talent.Mayhew fit right into that role.“He was a cross country all-state runner is what he was,” Helmer said. “He didn’t have real good track times. But he was a good kid and hard worker and the kind of person we wanted to add to our program.”Mayhew was redshirted his entire freshman year, forcing him to compete unattached. It was in one of these races where he first showed signs of his potential as a track athlete.“He ran 3:51 in the 1500m in one of our outdoor meets,” Helmer said. “It was something completely out of character.”Mayhew was never projected to be even a fraction of the exceptional runner he has become. He said he attributes his growth and development to hard work and diligence.“Getting through the hard times leads to a lot of improvement,” Mayhew said. “There are a lot of days where a workout is really tough, and you have to convince yourself to keep going.”Helmer said Mayhew benefitted by entering the program when it was relatively new. At that point, the distance program wasn’t as competitive as today, allowing a freshman like Mayhew to come in and immediately be able to work with the top group.These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find a freshman able to jump in and instantly keep up with the likes of IU’s distance runners. Helmer has built the program up to make IU one of the top distance schools in the country, led in part by Mayhew.“I attribute a ton of my success to that,” Mayhew said. “When I first got here, there was a group of really good runners the year ahead. So I got lumped in with them and had to hold on for dear life.”Mayhew is now one of those guys leading that top group, rather than hanging on. And the results have accompanied that.Mayhew capped a phenomenal IU cross country career last October with an individual Big Ten title. He followed that up with a 13th place finish at the NCAA Championships, the best since Hoosier legend Bob Kennedy 20 years earlier.Since then, Mayhew has continued his success on the indoor track. He has twice been named Big Ten athlete of the week, one of two on the men’s team to win the award.Helmer said he sometimes worries Mayhew is actually doing more than he is being told to do.“I never do anything he tells me not to do,” Mayhew said. “But the stuff he does tell me to do, I sometimes push the limits.”His limits will be tested this weekend as Mayhew prepares for the Big Ten Championship meet. He will compete in the 3000m and 5000m. Expect Mayhew to work up to and through that day. He’s used to that by now.“He’s the guy for whom nothing came easy,” Helmer said. “But he’s also the guy who showed that if you work hard and put things in place, you can really improve.”
(02/12/13 1:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Scott Houston isn’t the kind of person to declare himself an elite athlete. He isn’t the kind of person to worry about his national ranking or take his talents for granted.Despite being the top-ranked pole vaulter in the Big Ten, the IU graduate student has maintained humility throughout his career.It began in high school when Houston was named the No. 1 American high school indoor pole vaulter as a senior at Northwest Guilford High School.Despite setting the North Carolina high school record, Houston said he has kept his head out of the clouds and in the training room.“My coach was very good at keeping my mind focused on my pole vaulting and doing what I needed to do to get better,” Houston said. “The ranking was cool, but it was never about that.”When Houston arrived on campus at the University of North Carolina, he quickly set a personal record with a 5.34-meter (17-foot-6.25-inch) indoor vault during his freshman year. But it would be a long time before he did that again.Recurring injuries kept Houston from consistently competing at his peak level at North Carolina. He went the rest of his undergraduate career without improving his personal record.“That’s a long time,” IU Pole Vault Coach Jake Wiseman said. “Four years is a lot of work for someone to put in without seeing results.”Houston said working through several injuries during his time at North Carolina caused him to reevaluate his outlook on the sport.“A lot of track athletes see their careers like a life or death situation,” Houston said. “I love my sport, but I realized at the end of the day, it’s something I do for enjoyment and camaraderie with athletes and coaches. “Once I made my peace with that, it took some pressure off, and I just started jumping and enjoying it.”Houston completed his undergraduate studies in 2012 and started exploring schools, looking for the right fit for his final year of eligibility. He contacted IU last season and liked what he heard, so he made the decision to come to Bloomington.Wiseman said when Houston arrived on campus, he immediately recognized the talent of this young vaulter, but he also recognized there were still obstacles to overcome.“You could tell he loved the sport, but he didn’t have much confidence when he first got here,” Wiseman said. “A lot of what we’ve done this year is focusing on building that confidence back up to where it was before all the injuries.”At the 2013 Meyo Invitational on Feb. 2, Houston cleared the 5.40-meter (17-foot-8.5-inch) height to set a new personal record, his first since his freshman year of college.That height also put him at the top of the list of Big Ten pole vaulters.Houston has maintained his outlook on his sport and said he tries to help his teammates improve, as well.“He’s a great teammate for everyone,” Wiseman said. “Scott spends so much time helping the younger jumpers that we’ve actually had to have a conversation about him being a little more selfish from now on.”While he said he knows his coach might be right, he does not have plans to stop helping his teammates. He said he knows the frustration of not improving in an ideal way and wouldn’t want anyone else to go through that.“I had to keep telling myself that it doesn’t have to be right now,” Houston said. “The support of my family and friends always kept me motivated. I knew the marks would come, I just had to keep at it.”
(02/11/13 2:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s and women’s track and field teams closed their home indoor seasons Friday and Saturday by hosting the Hoosier Hills Invitational.The Hoosiers scored two big marks on Friday night.The first was IU senior Derek Drouin taking sole possession of the collegiate lead in the high jump. His height of a 2.32-meter jump (7-foot 7.25-inch) also made him fourth in the world. In the process, Drouin also broke the Gladstein Fieldhouse record of 2.31 meters, a mark that stood for 25 years after it was originally set by Mark Reed.“It was pretty special to get [the record] in my last home meet,” Drouin said. “I was happy that I was able to take a shot at it and get it.”Drouin took three attempts at 2.35 meters (7 feet 8.5 inches) and said despite not clearing the bar, he felt surprisingly good at that height and hopes to reach that height in championship season.“Last season I had that added pressure of the Olympics on the horizon,” Drouin said. “So hopefully this year I can just go out and jump and be successful.”The other big story from Friday came out of the distance medley relay race. The IU team of sophomore Rorey Hunter, sophomore Nick Stoner, graduate student Lance Rollerand senior Andy Bayer finished with a time of 9:33.43, the second best time in division one this season.It was the first time the Hoosiers have run a DMR this season. A team of former IU indoor runners kept the pace in the event.On the women’s side, the Hoosiers took victories on Friday in women’s pole vault, women’s 600-meter run and women’s shot put thanks to freshman Sydney Clute, sophomore Brie Roller and senior Kyla Buckley respectively.IU Associate Head Coach Jeff Huntoon said he was impressed with how the women’s team performed at Hoosier Hills and that he’s looking forward to the Big Ten Indoor Championships.“We’ve got a thrower in Taja Moore that nobody knows about and a jumper in Emma Kimoto that nobody knows about,” Huntoon said. “So hopefully we can surprise some people.”The Hoosiers kept the momentum going Saturday, especially in the distance events. Senior Zach Mayhew and Bayer took first and second in the men’s 3000-meter invitational run. Mayhew shed 11 seconds off his personal record and crossed the line in 7:51.61 to edge out Bayer’s 7:51.75. Their times were the best in the Big Ten and third and fourth best nationally. In the women’s 3000-meter invitational, sophomore Samantha Ginther crossed the line at 9:20.02 to take the victory and the Big Ten lead. Her time was the fifth best in IU history.Indiana will now take a weekend off before heading to Geneva, Ohio for the Big Ten Indoor Championship meet Feb. 22 to 23. “We still have some things to tune up before we head into championship season,” Huntoon said. “But we’ve shown flashes of what we can do and hopefully we can get everybody some good marks.”
(02/10/13 8:26pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s and women’s track and field teams closed their home indoor seasons Friday and Saturday by hosting the Hoosier Hills Invitational.The Hoosiers scored two big marks on Friday night.The first was IU senior Derek Drouin taking sole possession of the collegiate lead in the high jump. His height of a 2.32-meter jump (7-foot 7.25-inch) also made him fourth in the world. In the process, Drouin also broke the Gladstein Fieldhouse record of 2.31 meters, a mark that stood for 25 years after it was originally set by Mark Reed.“It was pretty special to get [the record] in my last home meet,” Drouin said. “I was happy that I was able to take a shot at it and get it.”Drouin took three attempts at 2.35 meters (7 feet 8.5 inches) and said despite not clearing the bar, he felt surprisingly good at that height and hopes to reach that height in championship season.“Last season I had that added pressure of the Olympics on the horizon,” Drouin said. “So hopefully this year I can just go out and jump and be successful.”The other big story from Friday came out of the distance medley relay race. The IU team of sophomore Rorey Hunter, sophomore Nick Stoner, graduate student Lance Rollerand senior Andy Bayer finished with a time of 9:33.43, the second best time in division one this season.It was the first time the Hoosiers have run a DMR this season. A team of former IU indoor runners kept the pace in the event.On the women’s side, the Hoosiers took victories on Friday in women’s pole vault, women’s 600-meter run and women’s shot put thanks to freshman Sydney Clute, sophomore Brie Roller and senior Kyla Buckley respectively.IU Associate Head Coach Jeff Huntoon said he was impressed with how the women’s team performed at Hoosier Hills and that he’s looking forward to the Big Ten Indoor Championships.“We’ve got a thrower in Taja Moore that nobody knows about and a jumper in Emma Kimoto that nobody knows about,” Huntoon said. “So hopefully we can surprise some people.”The Hoosiers kept the momentum going Saturday, especially in the distance events. Senior Zach Mayhew and Bayer took first and second in the men’s 3000-meter invitational run. Mayhew shed 11 seconds off his personal record and crossed the line in 7:51.61 to edge out Bayer’s 7:51.75. Their times were the best in the Big Ten and third and fourth best nationally. In the women’s 3000-meter invitational, sophomore Samantha Ginther crossed the line at 9:20.02 to take the victory and the Big Ten lead. Her time was the fifth best in IU history.Indiana will now take a weekend off before heading to Geneva, Ohio for the Big Ten Indoor Championship meet Feb. 22 to 23. “We still have some things to tune up before we head into championship season,” Huntoon said. “But we’ve shown flashes of what we can do and hopefully we can get everybody some good marks.”
(02/08/13 5:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In their final meet before the Big Ten Indoor Championships, the IU men’s and women’s track and field teams will host the Hoosier Hills Invitational Friday and Saturday.The Hoosiers will take next weekend off to prepare for the conference meet, so this weekend is the last chance the athletes have to get in a good seed time.Hoosier Hills, which is also the team’s indoor home finale, will be the first look at IU’s distance medley relay team (DMR). At this meet last year, the Hoosier men ran the world’s fifth-fastest indoor DMR of all time. Sophomore Rorey Hunter will lead off this year’s relay with the 1200-meter leg. He’ll pass the baton to fellow sophomore Nick Stoner for the 400-meter run. Graduate student Lance Roller will then run the 800-meter portion and finally senior Andy Bayer will anchor with a 1600-meter run.“The goal is just to put up a time good enough that we think will make it into the NCAA meet,” Bayer said. “We have a lot of really good legs so I’m hoping to get the baton and not have to do too much.”Bayer, who will also be competing in the men’s 3,000-meter invitational race, is an NCAA outdoor champion in the 1500-meter run who has been plagued by bad luck so far this season. Getting sick before the Indiana Relays hasn’t helped him recover smoothly from his injury.Bayer said he was pleased with his mile time last weekend at the Meyo Invitational and said he’s gotten a good week of work in leading up to Hoosier Hills, so all signs point to a good meet.On the women’s side, the high jumpers and pole vaulters will look to carry some momentum from last weekend into this meet. Senior Emma Kimoto and freshmen Sophie Gutermuth and Sydney Clute all performed well at Notre Dame and are scheduled to compete in their events this week as well.IU Coach Ron Helmer said the overall goals of this meet are to tune some things up before championship season and to get some qualifying marks for the NCAA Indoor Championships in early March.“You get to this point in the season and this is where you finally see your hard work pay off,” Helmer said. “It needs to happen because they want it to happen. It’s up to us to give them the opportunity and it’s up to them to take it.”While this meet might not be as large in scale as some of the other meets the Hoosiers have hosted, Helmer said it’s equally important, if not more. Because many athletes won’t compete at the last-chance Alex Wilson Invitational after the conference championship, Hoosier Hills will be one of the final opportunities to qualify for the national championship meet. “If they’re good enough and they’re ready, it will happen,” Helmer said. “We still have a lot of business to take care of, so it’s not time to shut down and rest quite yet.”
(02/04/13 2:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to South Bend this weekend to compete in their first away meet of the season, the Meyo Invitational.IU won two events over the course of the meet as graduate student Scott Houston won the men’s pole vault and junior Darius King took the men’s high jump.“It was a good meet for us,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “Our top athletes showed us they’re still good, and we also have those emerging athletes showing up every weekend.”Houston finished the meet with a personal record of 5.40-meters, or 17-feet-8.5-inches, in pole vault, good for the highest mark anyone has scored in the Big Ten this year.Helmer said he is particularly impressed with the amount of character Houston has shown this season.“This is the first personal record he’s gotten in four years,” Helmer said. “So that’s displaying a huge amount of discipline to stay with something like that.“He’s got to take another step forward, and I think he will, but regardless, we now have potential national meet points in another event thanks to Scott.”The other big headliner for the Hoosiers this weekend was sophomore sprinter Nick Stoner.Stoner, also a wide receiver on the IU football team, finished fourth out of over 50 athletes in the 60-meter dash. Stoner broke his previous personal record in each of his three 60-meter races — two qualifying races and one finals heat — finishing in the finals with a time of 6.82 seconds.This was only the second meet of the season for Stoner as he transitions from football workouts to the track. Helmer said he has already proven himself to be one of the most physically gifted athletes on the team.“He’s still working on some of the technical aspects of his sprinting,” Helmer said. “He’s an outstanding athlete, but he’s still developing, and it will be great to see him run once he develops those skills.”Stoner, however, said he tries to take a minimalistic approach to the way he runs a race.“Track is pretty simple to me,” Stoner said. “You line up, hit the blocks and run as fast as you can. It’s just about who’s ready to compete.”On the women’s side, senior Emma Kimoto tied for second in the high jump, clearing the 1.73-meter, or 5-foot-8-inch, mark. That ties her career best and gives her a share of fourth best in the Big Ten. Senior Erica Ridderman led the way on Saturday, finishing second in the women’s open 3000-meter run with a time of 9:54.42.Another notable performance was senior Andy Bayer’s run in the Meyo Mile. Bayer finished third with a time of 4:00.20 in a field of several of the best distance runners in the country, said Helmer.Helmer said he was pleased with Bayer’s performance, but he still feels Bayer has yet to compete at 100 percent this season.The Hoosiers return home for the Hoosier Hills meet Feb. 8 and 9. It will be the last meet for the team before the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Helmer said he isn’t worrying about the approaching indoor championship season.“We have to remember that it’s still early February,” Helmer said. “As much as we’d like to be sharp like it’s the end of our season, there is still time.”
(01/28/13 3:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Olympians, NCAA champions, students and professional athletes converged on IU’s Gladstein Fieldhouse last Friday and Saturday. The Indiana Relays provided athletes an opportunity to compete and secure qualifying times for the fast-approaching NCAA Indoor Championships, which will take place Feb. 22 and 23.Friday night’s agenda featured most of the weekend’s marquee events, including the high jump final and mile run invitational.Senior Derek Drouin competed in the high jump in his first showing in the event since winning a bronze medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Drouin won the event Friday night with a successful jump of 2.29 meters, tying him for the collegiate lead. He said the result does not mean much to him right now, however.“I was just hoping to get a qualifying mark,” Drouin said. “The title of NCAA leader is cool, but it’s not what I was out searching to do.”The men’s mile run invitational provided plenty of excitement, mixing professional and student athletes. Senior Zach Mayhew was the second collegiate finisher, crossing the line at 4:00.85. “I couldn’t be happier with that,” Mayhew said. “I felt like I fought the whole way. I had one bad lap in the middle where I fell off a little bit, but I don’t think I could have gone faster than that. I was reaching really deep.”Senior Andrew Bayer was seeded nearly five seconds better than his final time of 4:05.12, but according to IU Coach Ron Helmer, an illness earlier in the week threw off his training schedule.The event’s winner, Andrew Poore, is a former IU runner and became the seventh Indiana-born person ever to break the four-minute barrier with his time of 3:58.85.Sophomore JR Ricker was a surprise victor in Saturday’s 5000-meter run invitational after entering the event with the lowest seed time in the field. His time of 14:13.84 ranks second in the Big Ten behind Mayhew’s performance earlier this season in the Hoosier Open.Across the facility, junior Kyla Buckley held her own in the women’s shot put. She finished third with a throw of 16.44 meters and showed signs of improvement from earlier this season, Helmer said.“We challenged Kyla,” he said. “She’s too good of an athlete to perform like she’s been doing. She’s given us positive results now, and she’s got lots of growth yet.”Buckley said she is very competitive and expects to move up into the top five throwers in the nation this year and hopefully break some IU records. Her finish this weekend ranked third in IU history.Helmer said he again saw improvement in an up-and-coming class of young talent. He said he was particularly impressed this weekend with freshman pole vaulter Sydney Clute, IU’s top finisher in the women’s pole vault invitational, and sophomore sprinter Nick Stoner, who put up the sixth-fastest overall time in the 60-meter dash.“We continue to have that group of emerging high-level athletes,” Helmer said. “And the other thing that was really good was we saw a lot of good efforts. They kept competing all weekend, and that’s a very important part of the culture we need to cultivate.”
(01/27/13 8:14pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Olympians, NCAA champions, students and professional athletes converged on IU’s Gladstein Fieldhouse last Friday and Saturday. The Indiana Relays provided athletes an opportunity to compete and secure qualifying times for the fast-approaching NCAA Indoor Championships, which will take place Feb. 22 and 23.Friday night’s agenda featured most of the weekend’s marquee events, including the high jump final and mile run invitational.Senior Derek Drouin competed in the high jump in his first showing in the event since winning a bronze medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Drouin won the event Friday night with a successful jump of 2.29 meters, tying him for the collegiate lead. He said that the result does not mean much to him right now, however.“I was just hoping to get a qualifying mark,” Drouin said. “The title of NCAA leader is cool, but it’s not what I was out searching to do.”The men’s mile run invitational provided plenty of excitement, mixing professional and student athletes. Senior Zach Mayhew was the second collegiate finisher, crossing the line at 4:00.85. “I couldn’t be happier with that,” Mayhew said. “I felt like I fought the whole way. I had one bad lap in the middle where I fell off a little bit, but I don’t think I could have gone faster than that. I was reaching really deep.”Senior Andrew Bayer was seeded nearly five seconds better than his final time of 4:05.12, but according to IU Coach Ron Helmer, an illness earlier in the week threw off his training schedule.The event’s winner, Andrew Poore, is a former IU runner and became the seventh Indiana-born person to ever break the four-minute barrier with his time of 3:58.85.Sophomore JR Ricker was a surprise victor in Saturday’s 5000-meter run invitational after entering the event with the lowest seed time in the field. His time of 14:13.84 ranks second in the Big Ten behind Mayhew’s performance earlier this season in the Hoosier Open.Across the facility, junior Kyla Buckley held her own in the women’s shot put. She finished third with a throw of 16.44 meters and showed signs of improvement from earlier this season, Helmer said.“We challenged Kyla,” he said. “She’s too good of an athlete to perform like she’s been doing. She’s given us positive results now and she’s got lots of growth yet.”Buckley said she is very competitive and expects to move up into the top five throwers in the nation this year and hopefully break some IU records. Her finish this weekend ranked third in IU history.Helmer said he again saw improvement in an up-and-coming class of young talent. He said he was particularly impressed this weekend with freshman pole vaulter Sydney Clute, IU’s top finisher in the women’s pole vault invitational, and sophomore sprinter Nick Stoner, who put up the sixth-fastest overall time on the day in the 60-meter dash.“We continue to have that group of emerging high-level athletes,” Helmer said. “And the other thing that was really good was we saw a lot of good efforts. They kept competing all weekend and that’s a very important part of the culture we need to cultivate.”
(01/25/13 5:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The stars will be out this Friday and Saturday as IU men’s and women’s track and field teams prepare for the Indiana Relays at Gladstein Fieldhouse. Seniors Andy Bayer and Derek Drouin will return to the track after skipping last weekend’s meet and will compete in some of their primary events. Bayer will run the mile and Drouin will compete in the high jump.Saturday’s high jump invitational will be the first real glimpse for IU fans at Drouin competing in the event since he won Olympic bronze in London. Despite the late start, Drouin said he has started even later in previous years.“It still feels a little bit early for me, but I’m excited to hopefully get a mark in and hopefully qualify for NCAA’s,” Drouin said. “I’m eager to get back into it. I’ve been doing a couple different events, which I like, but it’s nice to go back to your specialty.”IU Coach Ron Helmer said Drouin is a natural competitor who wants to compete instead of taking the extra time to train.“Derek takes the mindset that every meet is a competitive opportunity,” Helmer said. “And we don’t want to waste those. Meets are a great opportunity to prepare and to train and gain fitness and we want to take advantage of them.”With more than 30 teams expected to attend, including Notre Dame, Illinois and Alabama, there will not be a shortage of talent to challenge the Hoosiers. Helmer said the meet should be similar to the Gladstein Invitational in both size and how he approaches the meet strategically.“In a couple cases we’re trying to put some really good marks on the board,” Helmer said. “In other cases we’re trying to get in back-to-back days of hard work to practice what it’s like at Big Tens or NCAAs.”After the meet last weekend, Helmer applauded the performances of several unheralded Hoosiers who he said have really stepped up early this year.“We want that group to prove that last week was no fluke,” Helmer said. “And then we need to find the next handful of people ready to stand up and show they’re getting in the right mind for that kind of challenge.”One athlete looking to take that next step is graduate student Lance Roller, competing in the 600-meter invitational. The last time Roller stepped onto the track for this race, he challenged the school record, eventually finishing second all-time in school history. This time, Helmer said Roller is eyeing the top spot in the record book.Another senior leader for IU in the past few weeks has been Kelsey Duerksen. The two-time Big Ten Track Athlete of the week has turned in dependable races all season and will look to add another when she lines up for the mile on Friday night. Despite the several expectations Helmer listed for the Indiana Relays, he said he felt they were justified.“When you put good, prepared athletes out there in situations where you expect good things to happen, then we get a little jump start on the rest of the conference,” Helmer said. “And that’s never a bad thing.”
(01/21/13 8:54pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With two of its biggest stars resting, the IU track and field teams looked elsewhere for standout performances this Friday and Saturday at the Gladstein Invitational. The Hoosiers hosted their third event of the season this weekend at Gladstein Fieldhouse. Several of IU’s athletes stepped up in the absence of seniors Derek Drouin and Andy Bayer, as the two did not compete.One of these athletes was graduate student Scott Houston, who won the men’s pole vault with a successful vault of 5.2 meters. “This is kind of early in the year, so to come out and put up a jump over 17 feet is always a good thing,” Houston said. “I think I was just doing what I had to do to get the W out and protect home track.”The marquee events of the weekend were the men’s and women’s 3000-meter invitational races. Senior Zach Mayhew took second in the men’s race while junior Robby Nierman crossed the line fourth. The winner, professional runner Lee Emanual, clocked in with the fastest time in the U.S. this year and third fastest in the world of 7:52.42.In the women’s race, senior Kelsey Duerksen finished with the fastest time in the Big Ten this year and 5th fastest in school history of 9:20.56 on her way to the victory. Duerksen also ran the 4x800-meter relay, an atypical event for her, she said.“The people in my relay were mostly distance girls today,” Duerksen said. “It was really exciting to get to work on our speed a little bit and run a faster event. That was kind of new for us.”Duerksen has already won two Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week awards this season and said she hopes her performance made a case for her to win a third.“It would be exciting but we’ll have to see,” Duerksen said. “There will be more competition this time because I think a lot of Big Ten teams competed this weekend.”Duerksen and fellow 3K-competitor Samantha Ginther, a sophomore, were the first mentioned when IU Coach Ron Helmer was asked who he was impressed with on the women’s team. Ginther finished in second place behind Duerksen in the 3000-meter run.“We haven’t had any girls run that fast at this time of the year, so I thought their race was outstanding,” Helmer said. “A couple of the young pole vaulters started putting things in place, too. And Kyla Buckley settled herself back down a bit and did a far better job of competing in the weight throw, I thought.”Buckley, a junior, finished fourth in the weight throw to accompany her third place finish in the shot put. Another Hoosier on the men’s team that stood out included redshirt freshman Dylan Anderson, who took second in the men’s heptathlon after a strong showing in the long jump portion.“With that performance he goes from being just a regular redshirt freshman to somebody that we can look to score some Big Ten points,” Helmer said. “He is part of a group of guys that I’ve seen start to position themselves as the ones we can count on when we need them at championship time.”