Big Ten powers to meet

In women's track Saturday, the defending Big Ten champion Hoosiers face Michigan, the 1999 champion, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Both teams' coaches have different ideas of what could happen.\n"I don't expect us to have a close meet all year," IU coach Randy Heisler said. And that's what I expect the girls to believe and to strive toward. We are good enough this year that, barring injury, barring unforeseen natural disasters, this team should be better than last year's team."\nLast year's Hoosiers were the best team in Big Ten history, scoring 150 points at the indoor championship. IU also went undefeated in dual meets and yielded five All-Americans and 10 school records.\nBut the Hoosiers could only defeat the Wolverines by seven points (84-77) in a dual meet in Bloomington last season. The win broke IU's eight-year losing streak to Michigan, which won eight of 15 events in the loss and finished fourth in the conference last season. Michigan coach James Henry expects similar results to last season's tug of war.\n"It'll be a really close meet," Henry said. "We're hoping to be in the top three, and it looks like Indiana will be as well. We'll give them a run for their money."\nThe Wolverines will try such a strategy after losing eight top competitors from last year's squad. Michigan also graduated Big Ten long jump champion Brandi Bentley.\nIU, on the other hand, is far from reloading. The Hoosiers return individuals who scored 125 of the 150 points at the Big Ten Championships; the high jump was the only event in which the Hoosiers didn't score. The team could dominate the long jump, triple jump, pole vault, sprints and throwing events, Heisler said.\nIf the Hoosiers have a weakness, it could be long distance, because sophomores Amanda Bell and Allyson Hammond are injured, Heisler said. \nAll five of IU\'s All-Americans are expected to compete, with sophomores Rachelle Boone, Danielle Carruthers and Rose Richmond and senior Lorraine Dunlop in sprinting events, and senior Jen Brown in the throws. Carruthers and Boone finished seventh in the 4x100 relay at the NCAA outdoor championships while Boone also placed 11th in the 200-meter sprint. Brown took 10th place in the shot put.\nAfter establishing school records in the shot and weight throw and winning the team's only Big Ten last year in the shot, Brown said she has a simple goal for Saturday's meet against Michigan.\n"I'm looking to qualify for nationals, to get that out of the way and enjoy the season," Brown said.\n"Overall, Michigan is a pretty good team. They're just out there to win like we are. They always give us a challenge and we're usually up to it"