Five years ago, a golfer from Washington, Pa., came to IU as an unheralded high school player and walked on the men's golf team. Now, that same golfer is leaving IU with aspirations of playing professionally.
Today, the women's golf team will be competing in the annual Big Ten Championship, which will take place in Minneapolis, Minn. The tournament will be at Les Boldtad Golf Course, which is close to 6,000 yards with a par of 72. Competition tees off 8 a.m. Friday, 9 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday. The champion is an automatic qualifier to NCAA Regional.
The men's tennis team defeated Iowa Thursday afternoon in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at the University of Wisconsin. IU beat the No. 9 seed Hawkeyes 4-3. The Hoosiers advance to the second round to compete against the No. 1 seed University of Illinois.
Hitting, pitching and defense are the fundamentals the baseball team wants to improve upon when it plays Purdue this weekend at Sembower Field. "We're going to have to pitch good, play good defense," sophomore third baseman Vasili Spanos said.
The women's water polo team begins the second round of NCAA competition in this weekend's Eastern Championships. The Hoosiers will travel to Brown University in Providence, R.I., and compete against seven teams -- Princeton, Harvard, Harwick, George Washington, Michigan, Brown and Massachusetts.
Many coaches and athletes believe in the old adage that the only way to become better is to face competition that is better.
Few sporting events rival the prominence of the Penn Relays, the first and largest collegiate track and field relay meet in the world. Ninth-ranked IU will send its top 20 athletes to join about 22,000 more who will attend the 107-year-old meet. Because of its size, the meet is nicknamed the "Penn Relay Carnival," but the Hoosiers are focused on taking care of business.
Many NBA stars refer to the playoffs as the "second-season" -- a description meant to imply that the slate is wiped clean and focus is regathered. But perhaps the players give it a different meaning. Perhaps they are referring to the length of the post-season, which feels more and more like the regular season.
Fresh off of Tuesday's no-hit victory against Miami of Ohio, the softball squad fell 4-1 to in-state foe Ball State Wednesday in the Hoosiers' final non-conference game. The loss drops IU to 15-33 on the season.
Senior Paul Jacobson entered the spring season with many goals in mind, one being to finish as one of the top five all-time winningest men's tennis players in IU history.
This year's men's tennis Big Ten championships has a clear favorite, an underdog, and a very fine line between the two.
Entering the Big Ten Championships today in Madison, Wis., the box scores depict an IU men's tennis team whose play has been mediocre in recent weeks. But a look at individual performance reveals a team gaining confidence. Perhaps the most prominent late-season improvement comes from senior Milan Rakvica. Playing at the No. 1 singles position, Rakvica has claimed victory against five of his last seven opponents. He was named Big Ten Co-Athlete of the Week in early April after upsetting No. 20 Graydon Oliver of Illinois in consecutive sets and knocking off Brad Erikson of Northwestern. Rakvica followed with another win against No. 54 Phillip Metz of Ohio State.
Few teams in the history of the Big Ten have exhibited the kind of dominance IU's women's tennis team has in the Conference Tournament. The Hoosiers will take 15 Big Ten Tournament Championships in the 21-year history of the event Thursday into Columbus, Ohio, for this years tournament, hoping to end a three year title drought.
With the women's tennis team heading toward the end of regular season play, it is hard not to see the biggest strength of the team. In fact, you would be seeing double. IU's doubles play has become the backbone of the squad. The three doubles combinations have come on strong, winning the last 11 points, the last loss coming March 11 against Illinois.
Throughout the past half-century, the United States and Japan have made several trades that have benefited both nations. Among the items the Japanese exported to the good old U.S. of A: quality electronic equipment, karaoke, Godzilla movies and, on a more regrettable note, Pokemon.
Perhaps softball coach Diane Stephenson best summarizes the importance of senior managers Matt Nocks and Leslie Shaffer to the team.
Dominating defense, flawless pitching and clutch hitting. For most of its season, the softball squad has wondered where these have been. IU (15-32) found them Tuesday at the IU Softball Field, in its first series sweep of the season in a doubleheader against Miami (Ohio) 1-0, 3-2.
A winless weekend on the road ensured the softball team will not meet its goal of reaching the Big Ten tournament. The last-place Hoosiers dropped two games to Northwestern (17-18, 6-7 Big Ten) on Friday, 4-2, 5-1.
Before this weekend, women's track and field coach Randy Heisler said it would be rough for his team to win because the Hoosiers would be competing against Eastern Michigan and Illinois and because those two teams wouldn't steal points from each other.
This, my friends, is the best time of the year if you like sports. Taking nothing away from the drama and excitement of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, the NBA playoffs are the best postseason in sports. But the sports world -- the combination of everything going on at one time -- makes right now better than any other time of year.
Solutions by The State News