Team to battle Illini on Senior Night
Senior Night is always special. But with an NCAA Tournament berth and a first-round bye at the Big Ten tournament on the line, tonight's game cannot be much more important.
Senior Night is always special. But with an NCAA Tournament berth and a first-round bye at the Big Ten tournament on the line, tonight's game cannot be much more important.
The men's swimming and diving team has experienced some inconsistencies this year. This weekend it will face its biggest test -- the Big Ten Championships at the University of Minnesota. There, the team hopes to redeem this season's disappointments in a good showing in the conference's most important meet.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Junior center Kirk Haston is the leading scorer in the Big Ten and the Hoosiers' go-to man. He's interim head coach Mike Davis' choice for Big Ten Player of the Year and one of the top post players in the conference. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo recruited Haston and called him the most improved player this season. But it takes more than one man to defeat No. 5 Michigan State, especially when he's playing with four fouls and held scoreless for the last 19 minutes of regulation.
Four high school seniors -- all players of the year in their respective states -- have signed letters of intent with the IU men's soccer team, coach Jerry Yeagley said.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State freshman center Zach Randolph won the Class 4-A IHSAA state championship at Marion High School last year, but his friend, IU freshman forward Jared Jeffries, won the Mr. Basketball award. Apparently, that didn't sit well with Randolph. He banged, bruised and muscled his way to 14 points against Jeffries and the Hoosiers in Michigan State's 66-57 victory Tuesday.
Tuesday's baseball game started the home season off with a bang for IU. On the first pitch of the first inning, redshirt freshman Mark Calkins drove a home run over the center field fence. "I just saw a good pitch and hit it well," Calkins said. "I wasn't trying to hit a home run. I was just trying to get on base."
When women's soccer player Wendy Dillinger graduated from IU in 1998, she played in soccer leagues across the country and competed in Europe, but the hope of a professional soccer league in the U.S. was a distant hope. With the formation of the Women's United Soccer Association, Dillinger's hope is becoming a reality.
There is no question men's basketball interim head coach Mike Davis has his heart set on postseason play, and time is running out to get there. There are four games left in the regular season, and if Davis wants to reach 19 wins, the Hoosiers must win three of them. But with No. 5 Michigan State, Wisconsin and intra-state rival Purdue left on the schedule, Davis said the Hoosiers are entering the toughest part of the season. The Spartans are first on the list. The Hoosiers (16-10, 7-5 Big Ten) will face Michigan State (20-3, 9-3) at 7 p.m. in the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich.
Serene rides through campus and the streets of Bloomington seemed distant memories for many first-year Little 500 riders as Rookie Week started Monday at Bill Armstrong Stadium. "I was riding next to a girl who wasn't very vocal, and she actually touched the girl's bike in front of her and almost fell," said sophomore Alpha Delta Pi rider Lauren Moore. "Everybody kind of stopped to miss her. I was scared because I didn't know what way she might fall." Riders bumping into each other is a part of the race. Moore said she has seen the scrapes and bruises on her teammates. Rookie Week is designed to limit serious injuries to riders.
To say the Hoosiers are looking for a little more stability in their pitching staff after giving up a school-record 49 runs in three games last weekend against Furman would be an understatement. And the Hoosiers have one day off to try to find that stability before they face Indiana Wesleyan at 3 p.m. today at Sembower Field.
A road trip to Indiana proved difficult for the Brown University Bears. Entering the Hoosier state 3-0, Brown leaves with a 3-3 record after suffering losses to Indiana State and Purdue over the weekend, and IU Monday afternoon.
Weeks of preparation left the Hoosiers itching to get their season started. When it began, they responded with a 5-2 victory against Virginia in the Triangle Classic at North Carolina State. But the young Hoosiers were unable to maintain their momentum, as they walked away from Raleigh with a 2-3 record.
After 16 career bests in the Penn State Collegiate last weekend, the men's indoor track team returned home for the last time before the conference championship with hopes of continuing the momentum from the past couple of meets.
There definitely is not any rest in sight for the weary water polo team. After splitting four matches at the Princeton Invitational last weekend, the Hoosiers look to break the .500 mark this weekend as they travel to Ann Arbor to compete in the Michigan Invitational.
After day one of the Big Ten Swimming and Diving championship, the Hoosiers are sitting in second place trailing only to Michigan. Eleven swimmers set personal records; five shattered school records. IU started the Big Ten meet at Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center by setting a school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay. A time of 1:31.07 was good enough to earn the Hoosiers first place, beating Michigan by nine-tenths of a second.
Jenn Cristy called it. The senior said she was going to block out the Olympic and All-American caliber athletes surrounding her. She did. She said she was going to swim the best she ever has this weekend. She was off to a good start Thursday night. "I know I'm going to wake up tomorrow and be like, 'Wait, it's Thursday, I have to do the 50,' because I feel like I'm dreaming right now." Cristy said.
Of the eight divers who would be competing in the Big Ten Diving finals of the 1-meter springboards Thursday night at Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center, things looked good for IU. Of the 42 divers that competed in the preliminaries, IU owned three of the top eight spots. IU freshman Cassandra Cardinell was in eighth, sophomore Jennifer Sonneborn placed third and senior Erin Quinn was in the lead after scoring 289.5 points.
WEST LAFAYETTE -- Whenever a lazy pass flew her way, she snatched it from the air. If a smaller opponent stood in her way of the basket, she stepped to the side and nailed a shot. In the eighth annual Barn Burner game, Purdue's Camille Cooper exposed IU's rebounding weaknesses and took advantage of the Hoosiers' early foul trouble. She scored 25 points and was named the game's most valuable player in the Boilermakers' (23-4, 13-1 Big Ten) blowout win 87-46.
WEST LAFAYETTE -- A week ago Thursday, the women's basketball team was experiencing success against a ranked team. Sunday, the Hoosiers were controlling the floor against Michigan State. A week ago Thursday, No. 7 Purdue was experiencing its first Big Ten loss of the season. Sunday, the Boilermakers escaped a loss at the hands of another red and white team, Ohio State.
IU started the 2001 campaign in Greenville, S.C., for a three-game weekend series against Furman. The Hoosiers won once in the three-game set. In the season opener Friday, Furman jumped on top of the Hoosiers early, knocking junior starter Brad Edwards, around for nine runs -- eight earned -- in 3.2 innings. The Paladins pounded out 14 more runs before the game was suspended in the seventh inning because of darkness.