Team to split for meet, Fla. relays

For the second consecutive weekend, the IU women's indoor track team will travel to a non-scored meet. The only difference is that seven athletes trek to compete in the Florida Relays at the University of Florida, while everyone else journeys north to the Purdue Open.\nAfter scorching the track at Arizona State last weekend, the seven athletes headed to Gainsville, Fla., plan to improve on their NCAA provisional qualifying marks in seven events against some of the toughest competition in the nation.\nThe Florida Relays is a high-quality meet, and the seven Hoosiers will be competing in the invitational events against 40 to 50 competitors, coach Randy Heisler said.\nAll-American sophomore Rachelle Boone hopes lead the Hoosiers' 4x100 relay squad back to the NCAA Outdoor Track Championships. Joining Boone are senior Lorraine Dunlop, junior Danielle Carruthers and sophomore Rose Richmond.\nThe relay team expects to finish in the top three nationally after finishing seventh last year.\n"I think all of us expected to do better than seventh," Richmond said of last season. "We knew what went wrong, so we're not upset."\nThis trip is special for Richmond, a St. Petersburg, Fla., native. \n"It's really exciting, because I get to go down there and perform in front of everyone," Richmond said. "I'm used to my family going to all my meets, but when I got here, they couldn't come to very many."\nBoone is also running in the 100- and 200-meter sprints, in which she has also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships.\nCarruthers met the provisional qualification mark in the 100-meter hurdles last weekend and junior Tia Trent also qualified in the 400-meters.\nIn the throws, senior Jennifer Brown continues her success in the shot put and sophomore Irina Kharun launched her javelin past the qualification distance in just her first competition after her tennis season.\nAlthough not everyone could attend the Florida Relays, which helped the team cut down on complicated travel arrangements, about 15 athletes will compete in West Lafayette.\nHeisler said he views both meets as important, but two events at the Florida Relays especially interest him.\n"The 4x100 and 4x200 will be a great opportunity, because there will be great teams and we're looking forward to that," Heisler said.\nBoone said she is confident she and her teammates will improve on last year's seventh-place finish.\n"We should win the relays," Boone said.