Junior sprinter elevates for race

Saturday at a four-way meet in Illinois, the No. 16 men's track and field team's top 400-meter runner, junior Ryan Sarbinoff, came up with an injured hamstring during warm ups. This left his training partner, junior Dan Martin, as the top 400-meter runner.\nComing into the meet, Martin said he had not been satisfied with his races in the open 400-meter dash, in spite of having several solid performances in the 4x400-meter relay. However, Martin stepped up to the challenge and was able to win the open 400-meter dash for the team. The Hoosiers ended up dominating the meet.\n"He's always performing," coach Marshall Goss said. "Dan's really doing a nice job for us. He's working hard and really has his head into it."\nMartin said one of the reasons that he was struggling in the open 400-meter earlier in the season was because of confidence. He said confidence has been a factor in his career dating all the way back to high school, but he is working to overcome this setback. Last weekend when Sarbinoff came up injured, the coaches said for Martin to just let it go and it worked for him.\nFor the indoor season, Martin will compete exclusively in the 400-meter and the 4x400-meter relay, but he is one of the top 400-meter hurdlers as well. Last season, he placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships in the event. He also stepped into the 4x100-meter relay team, which took second at the Big Ten Championships.\n"Dan Martin's versatility is definitely an asset for us," sprinting coach Ed Beathea said. "Martin is a guy that will allow us a lot of different options."\nIn high school, he showed off his versatility in several sports. At Concord High School, he went undefeated in the 300-meter hurdles from his sophomore year to his senior year, earning state-champion as a junior and runner-up as a sophomore and senior. He was also an all-state football player at wide receiver and defensive back. He entertained offers of playing football in college, but ultimately chose track instead.\n"I thought he was potentially a very good runner when I saw him in high school," Goss said. "He had a lot of the mental attributes that I like to see in an athlete. He goes out and lays it all on the line."\nMartin will prove to be even more valuable during the outdoor season where he will be relied on in the 400-meter hurdles and the 4x400-meter relay. Beathea said he does not see that anything is holding Martin back from making an impact at the Big Ten Championships in the open 400 this indoor season. \n"I want to go sub-49 (seconds) and maybe get down to the low 48s," Martin said. "I think it's possible and then I can score some points at Big Tens"