CHICAGO -- In 1996, IU linebacker and captain Jamie Baisley won the Balfour Award for bringing honor and distinction to Hoosier football.
CHICAGO -- When World Wrestling Federation Chairman Vince McMahon announced Feb. 3, 2000, that he founded a new football league, curiosity surfaced. And when NBC became a co-owner of that league March 29, 2000, excitement for the inaugural season grew. But since the XFL began play Feb. 3, 2001, media have focused more attention on national ratings and other measures of success than the teams and players within the league.
The baseball team tackled Division III Franklin College Tuesday in Bloomington and faces Wright State of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio. The midweek games against apparently meager teams should help the Hoosiers prepare for a four-game series against Northwestern this weekend, team members said.
If men's tennis coach Ken Hydinger had to sum up his tennis program, he would do it with one name: Ian Arons. "Ian has been a great guy for four years," Hydinger said of the senior. "He is one of those guys who comes to work everyday and has the maturity to see the big picture. He knows and wants what is good for the team and good for the program. He portrays what we want this program to be about. He is a person of ability and responsibility as well as a classic student-athlete."
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Enforcers were in a fight for their XFL playoff lives in the final regular season game Sunday night against the Orlando Rage. They won the fight.
Before Saturday's scored meet against Ball State, Cincinnati and Central Michigan, coach Randy Heisler said he needed his athletes to finish where they should. Heisler also said some distance runners needed to steal points from the competitors. The coach got what he wanted, as IU gained a 23.5-point victory against closest competitor Ball State.
The men's track team won nine events, set eight career-bests and had its first NCAA provisional mark met of the outdoor season in route to its first scored team victory. IU finished with a 63-point margin of victory against runner-up Cincinnati, which finished with 117 points. Central Michigan remained a contender with 116 points. Iowa finished with 108 points, and Ball State scored 61 points.
Football coach Cam Cameron said the Hoosier offensive line is as strong as it ever has been. The Hoosiers return all five starters and Cameron has made some adjustments he believes will boost the Hoosiers' offense. But the offensive line couldn't hold back the defense, which made a strong showing at the team's third scrimmage Saturday. "(The offensive line) is one of the strengths of our team," Cameron said. "Our defensive line is really improved, but the offensive line is really going to be the strength of this team."
Senior Michael Dixon's career as an IU wrestler ended at the Big Ten Championships March 4 in Evanston, Ill. Dixon lost his final match to Penn State's Bob Jones and finished eighth in the conference finale. In that respect, Evanston wasn't kind to Dixon. But Dixon made sure the eighth-place finish wasn't his last appearance on the Northwestern campus. Instead, with his career as a Big Ten heavyweight complete, he assured himself of yet another chance to strut his skills on another level, and he's not finished yet.
IU's offense helped them win; then, the Hoosier bats fell silent. The softball team split a doubleheader with Michigan State Friday before falling to Michigan in the second weekend of the Big Ten season. Both IU losses were shutouts, and the Hoosiers managed only six hits in the two defeats.
The women's golf team's string of three consecutive Indiana Invitational crowns came to and end Sunday, as Big Ten rival Michigan State took an 11-stroke victory against runner-up Kent State. IU finished fifth, 21 shots back. The Spartans fired a 295 during Sunday's final round of the three-round competition, the best round by any team by nine strokes. Kent State and Northwestern fired 304.
Women's crew to battle 3 teams at Lake LemonThe women's crew team will compete at home for the first time this season as it is host to Cincinnati, Dayton and Northwestern at Lake Lemon Saturday. After a strong performance last weekend at the Jayhawk Rowing Invitational, the Hoosiers will be looking to get more race experience under their belt.
Senior Milan Rakvica's two convincing wins this past weekend earned the Hoosier a share of the Big Ten's weekly Athlete of the Week for the men's tennis team.
The final score might not show it, but IU's women\'s tennis team gave seventh-ranked Notre Dame quite a scare Wednesday evening at the IU Tennis Center.
With a seven-run outburst in the first inning, the men's baseball team took command Wednesday afternoon at Sembower Field and never looked back in a 10-1 shelling of Indiana State.
Sophomore Irina Kharun -- in only her second week of competition this season --was named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week. Her winning javelin throw of 153 feet, 10 inches at last weekend's Florida Relays marked her second consecutive victory.
Even Cam Cameron admits it's no secret that the IU football team's downfall last season was its defense. The Hoosiers allowed 39 points per game and more than 40 points in seven of their eight losses.
The men's lacrosse team said its four-game losing streak was enough. Illinois didn't oblige.
