Strong performances bolster win

The IU women's track and field team came up with several impressive performances in Champaign, Ill., this Saturday in their win against the Illini, Missouri and Eastern Illinois. IU won the meet with 178 points. Illinois, Missouri and Eastern Illinois had 156, 154 and 54 points respectively.\nThe team had seven first place finishes overall, including two first place finishes by senior Rachelle Boone in both the 60- and 200-meter dashes. Sophomore Mindy Peterson turned in a win in the mile, as did junior Jennifer Cobbina in the long jump and sophomore Emily Tharpe in the pole vault. The 4x400 relay team of junior Jessica Comfort, sophomore Ara Towns, freshman LaDonna Ray and Boone also finished first.\nSenior Danielle Carruthers turned in an especially impressive performance on Saturday in the 60-meter hurdles.\nCarruthers, despite hitting the first hurdle, finished with the outstanding time of 8.16 seconds, which automatically qualifies her for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Carruthers knows that she'll be tough to beat when she perfects her technique.\n"I'm excited to see what I can run when I run a clean race," she said. \nIn recent practices, Carruthers has noticed that her technique has improved, and she plans to keep working on it.\n"If I keep doing what I'm doing, I have no choice but to get faster," she said. \nDanielle acknowledges that the competition at Saturday's meet played a part in pushing her to lower her time. Her main competitor, junior Perdita Felicien of the University of Illinois, is the defending indoor 60-meter hurdles champion, and Carruthers knows that prying that title away from her will be a challenge. \n"Her being there made me run faster," she said. \nBesides having a satisfaction with her own performance, Carruthers said she was also impressed by the team's performance. \n"There is no reason for us not to win Big Tens," she said. "By then we will be one big unit working together."\nFreshman thrower Andrea Dalla Rossa shares Carruthers' sentiments in that she thinks the team is really starting to show its potential.\n"I think what we're doing in practice is showing in our performances," she said.\nDalla Rossa finished first in the shot put at Saturday's meet. She said that she is usually a bit nervous for her first few throws but after she started out well she let go of her apprehensions.\n"I didn't let it get the best of me because I was getting tired of it," she said. \nIn addition to being more mentally focused, Dalla Rossa's performance was also influenced by a teammate's accomplishments. \nShe said knowing that her teammate senior Kelley McKinney threw a personal record to win the weight throw earlier in the morning helped to give her the positive energy that she transferred to her own performance. \nOverall, Dalla Rossa is pleased with the team's efforts at Saturday's meet.\n"I think the team did really well," she said. "I'm very proud of everything"