Team readies for championships

This weekend the No. 20 men's indoor track and field team faces the pinnacle of its season as they travel to Champaign, Ill., for the Big Ten Championship meet. In almost every event, this year's conference meet offers the most challenging competition in recent times. The Hoosiers will have to scrape for every point they can get.\n"We're going to give it everything we possibly can," coach Marshall Goss said. "We're a good team, and we're going to battle as best as we can."\nThe team will come in counting on big points from a few individuals. All season long, the team's leading point scorer has been sophomore All-American triple jumper Aarik Wilson and the team will look to him again this weekend. Senior Hasaan Reddick also boasts All-American credentials in the triple jump and looks to score solid points for the team.\nAfter the top point scorers, the team will count on every point they can get. Athletes who will look to score for the team are senior hurdler Matt Harris, juniors Mike Minton in the shot put, Contrell Ash in the sprints, sophomores Rodney and Russell Hollis in middle distance, sophomore high jumper Noah Shelton and freshman Wil Fleming in the weight throw. \n"I know I've felt better this week than I have all season," Shelton said. "We started tapering off two or three weeks ago, and now my legs feel great."\nGoss said the team will rely heavily on the distance squad. Distance coach Robert Chapman uses a high mileage philosophy, which focuses on this meet in particular. The distance runners in the Big Ten have been stellar, especially in the mile where two athletes have already broken the four-minute barrier. The Hoosiers will be led by sophomores in the distance events with John and Sean Jefferson, Stephen Haas and Eric Redman leading the way. John Jefferson was an All-American in the mile.\n"I can't speak for everybody, but I know with all these meets against small schools ... now, this is our first opportunity to go out against national class guys," Redman said. "We don't have to think about times now, we just have to worry about our place."\nEarlier this season, the team was ranked among the top of the Big Ten, but after struggling through injuries and an unimpressive performance at West Lafayette against Purdue and Ohio State, the team has dropped considerably. Still faced with the problem of injuries, the team has to find a way to overcome this obstacle to have a chance at the conference title.\n"We were rated pretty high in the country at one time," Goss said. "We're not going into this as a healthy team, but we're going still going to give it everything we can"