Hoosiers take home victory, personal bests

In a day of upsets and personal records, the men's indoor track team came away with a nail-biting 85-77 victory Saturday against rival Michigan in the Hoosiers' season opener at Ann Arbor. \nIU was favored to win, but its method of winning wasn't quite what it expected. The Hoosiers avenged last year's heartbreaking 85-78 loss by sweeping the first eight events, creating a seemingly insurmountable 22-point lead. Sophomore Mike Minton's double victory in the weight throw and shot put led the effort.\n"It's always good to get off to a good start," Minton said. "But I'm still not anywhere close to where I want to be. Everyone was just anxious to get the first meet over with and hopefully come away with the victory."\nBut the Wolverines held on, earning first place in six of the last seven events, but coming up short in the end.\nSophomore Chris Powers' victory in the 3,000 meter run, the meet's second-to-last event, and an additional five second-place finishes from IU athletes deflated any hopes of a Michigan recovery.\nSeveral Hoosiers broke career bests in Saturday's meet, showing potential for a promising season.\nJunior Ian Curry vaulted past some of the conference's best vaulters and achieved a personal best 16 feet, 4 3/4 inches. Sophomore Hasaan Reddick and junior Dino Efthimiou finished 1-2 in the long jumps and topped their career bests. Junior Kevin Chandler defeated Mike Wisniewski, a Michigan All-American, in the mile. His win came with a career-best time. Sophomore Matthew Harris also recorded his fastest time in the 60-meter hurdles.\nPerhaps the biggest surprise was freshman Ryan Sarbinoff's victory in the 400-meter dash in his first meet.\n"My win wasn't really expected and was definitely an upgrade from winning in high school," Sarbinoff said. "Our team is very young, and everyone was nervous going into the meet, but the young guys really performed well."\nCoach Marshall Goss commended his athletes for a hard-fought victory.\n"This meet was a great meet to watch," Goss said. "It was competitive right down to the last second, and we had great effort from our young kids and leadership from our older athletes"