Hoosiers look to build on second place finish

IU women's track and field coach Randy Heislerz said he has only one goal in mind as his team prepares to travel to West Lafayette on Saturday.\n"We need to do better than we did last week," said Heisler, referring to Saturday's second place finish to Michigan in the season opener. \nMore specifically, he said he expects his team to win this weekend against Purdue and Ohio State in the second meet of the season. \n"We just need to go have good performances and win every event," he said. \nThough Heisler isn't particularly pleased with last weekend's disappointing loss, he said he thinks that such a performance will ultimately serve as a learning experience the freshmen runners will benefit from. \n"It was their first college meet and they performed like freshmen," he said. "Now they're experienced."\nNow that the freshmen have a meet under their belts, Heisler said he is looking forward to seeing them step up and contribute to the team. \nBecause neither Purdue nor Ohio State is currently ranked, Heisler is treating this weekend's meet as a chance to give the younger, more inexperienced runners a chance to acclimate themselves to the atmosphere of a college track meet. \n"I've got six or seven runners this week that didn't go last week," he said. "I try to give everyone an opportunity."\nIn addition to giving the younger runners experience, leaving some of the major point-scorers home also benefits the team by providing them extra training time. Leading distance runners junior Audrey Giesler and sophomore Mindy Peterson will be able to continue to train through the weekend to prepare for the team's Feb. 1 meet against No. 16 Illinois. \nLike Heisler, sophomore pole vaulter Emily Tharpe said she was encouraged but not overly impressed by last week's meet.\n"It was a solid start, but nothing spectacular," she said. \nTharpe said she plans to take advantage of the "very good competition" that will be present at Saturday's meet.\nSenior thrower Kelley McKinney said she is also looking forward to the opportunity to compete against two formidable Big Ten opponents. \n"Purdue, Ohio State and Michigan have the best competition as far as throwing," she said adding that facing these teams early in the season will benefit the team.\nMcKinney said she is optimistic about Saturday's meet because the throwers have had an especially good week of practice. \n"I'm sure everyone will have a much better weekend," she said.\nMcKinney is currently ranked fourth in the Big Ten in the weight throw. She said she expects herself to be fighting for first in the near future. \nThe meet kicks off at 10 a.m. at Purdue's Lambert Fieldhouse.