Track in contention for Big Ten crown

This weekend is important for the men's track and field team. \nThe team heads to Minnesota today for the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championship, and IU is a title contender this season along with Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin.\nThe Hoosiers have not fared well against their conference foes in the past, but this is a different season.\nIf the team wins this weekend, it would be its first championship in 10 years and 16th overall. Coach Marshall Goss is in his fourth year and appears to have turned things around and have the program headed in the right direction. \n"We have wished for three years (that we were good); now we know that we're good," Goss said.\nA big key will be the field events. \nIU has four athletes with national qualifying marks in the field events, and the team needs them to score some big points.\nSenior Dino Efthimiou will try to win the Big Ten crown in the pole vault. Junior Haasan Reddick and freshman Aarik Wilson will compete for the triple-jump title, and senior Wasyl Fedoriw will try to score many points in both throwing events.\nThe distance team also has four athletes with NCAA qualifying times. This weekend, those athletes need to come up big.\nFreshman Jon Jefferson will look to make some noise in the mile. Juniors Bart Phariss and Chad Andrews will try to score as many points as possible in the 5k with fellow junior Chris Powers looking to win the 3000-meter run and score well in the 5000-meters.\nThe sprinters, while not having as many NCAA qualifiers, have the potential to score many important points. Freshman UnRico Lloyd is ranked second in both the 60-meter dash and the long jump. He has big goals for this meet.\n"Hopefully, I can win the long jump and place high in the 60," Lloyd said. \nThe team also has the fourth- and sixth-ranked 200-meter dash runners in sophomores Contrell Ash and Ryan Sarbinoff. Junior Matt Harris is also ranked fourth in 60-meter hurdles.\nIU heads into the meet with no major injuries but has a few expected minor ones. For the Hoosiers to win a big meet, everyone needs to perform.\n"Everybody knows what we are capable of doing," Andrews said. "If everyone goes out and has a good performance, we have a shot to win"