Vaulter to head to track nationals

All eyes will be on the defending champion and host University of Arkansas who have dominated opponents racking up four straight National titles and 15 of the last 16 championships. Nine Razorbacks and the distance medley team qualified for the Friday and Saturday competition.\nBut IU is concerned with junior Dino Efthimiou, the lone Hoosier at the NCAA men's indoor track championship in Fayetteville, Ariz., today and Saturday. \nEfthimiou is IU's only hope of scoring points on the men's side, but the vaulter has thrived on this sort of pressure from the beginning.\nThroughout the season, Efthimiou has come through in tight situations, including the Big Ten indoor track championship where he achieved a personal record that placed him 11th in the nation. His mark of 5.37 meters earned him a spot at the Nationals.\nTraining partner and close friend junior Ian Curry said he has thought Efthimiou could make it to the Nationals since the beginning of the season.\n"The way he has been jumping, I definitely thought he would make it to Nationals," Curry said. "When he goes up, the pole just throws him straight up. He's just such a quicker jumper that I thought he could do it. He's looking to go All-American and I definitely think he can do that and place because he's been jumping really well in practice."\nEfthimiou does not have to worry about any Razorbacks in the pole-vault, but he does get the chance to seek revenge on two Big Ten opponents who snatched away a first place finish at the conference championships two weeks ago.\nMichigan State junior Paul Terek won the Big Ten pole-vault championship and is one of the three vaulters who automatically qualified for the NCAAs by jumping at least 5.5 meters. Michigan senior Charles DeWildt took second in the conference and is ranked sixth in the nation. \nCoach Marshall Goss said he likes Efthimiou's chances even though he wishes more of his athletes could make the trip.\n"Dino is as ready as he can be," Goss said. "He's been vaulting very well during practice this week. He should go into the meet very confident despite the fact that this will be his first NCAA Championships experience."\nAlthough this is his first experience on the national level, Efthimiou said he is full of confidence and expects to build onto his goals.\n"It hasn't hit me yet," Efthimiou said. "I'm just trying to approach it as any other meet nerves haven't set in yet. All the meets before the Big Ten's are stepping-stones so you can learn how to handle the pressure. Every experience in the past has led to up this"