Track teams prepare for championship

The men's and women's track and field teams enjoyed several first-place performances in the final regular-season home meet on Saturday at the Billy Hayes Invitational. Held at the Robert C. Haugh Track Complex, the invite served as a final tune-up before next weekend's Big Ten Championship.\nThe women's five first-place victories were highlighted by freshman Emily Tharpe's record-setting victory in the pole vault. Tharpe broke her own school record, which she set earlier in the season, and also the track record. \nJunior Danielle Carruthers nearly broke her school record in the 100-meter hurdles with a winning time of 12.89. Carruthers' time was still the fourth-fastest in the world this year by any athlete -- amateur or professional. Carruthers' performance makes her the second-fastest American woman this year. \nJunior Rachelle Boone and senior Tia Trent continued their season-long success, winning the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter run, respectively. Junior Irina Kharun won in the javelin competition and freshman Carolyn Schopf won in the triple-jump to round out the women's victories.\nAlthough not considered technical victories in the open meet format, freshman Mindy Peterson and sophomore Audrey Giesler were the top two collegians in the 1,500-meter run, both with season-best times. \nFor so many Hoosiers to notch personal bests the weekend before the Big Ten Championship was an encouraging sign to assistant coach Ed Beathea. \n"It's not a matter of getting in shape," Beathea said. "It's a matter of going out and having a positive race." \nThe lone victory for the men came from freshman Mike Skiles' season-best performance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. \nDespite only one victory and sitting out half of his squad on Saturday, men's coach Marshall Goss said he was still impressed with the performances turned in, including junior Hasaan Reddick's second-place finish in the triple jump. \nGoss said he was also pleased to see sophomore Contrell Ash, the 2001 Big Ten champion in the 100-meter dash, return from a six-week layoff. Ash sprinted to a seventh-place finish with a season-best time of 10.60.\nIn the 110-meter hurdles, junior Matt Harris and sophomore Micah Harvey placed second and fourth, respectively. Both hurdlers had season-best times. \n"(Harris and Harvey) had big performances for themselves," said Goss, who hopes another big performance next weekend can place them high at Big Tens. Harvey said he thinks he's in a good position to do just that.\n"With it getting closer to Big Tens, I'm getting happier and happier each time I run," Harvey said.\nAlthough the Hoosiers enjoyed the comforts of home on Saturday, both the men's and women's teams will travel to Madison, Wisc., for the Big Ten Championship this weekend.\n"We always look forward to running at home," Goss said. "But we know next weekend is the big one"