Lucrative weekend sends numerous Hoosiers to NCAA Championships

Both the men's and women's track teams fared well in the NCAA Mideast Regional this past weekend. The women's team finished in the No. 3 position with 60 points, while the men's team finished No. 8 with 33.\nSenior All-American Irina Kharun broke the women's stadium record with a 185-foot-11-inch javelin throw, which gave her the regional crown in the event. While Kharun has broken her personal best in each of the last two meets, she said she feels there is still room for improvement.\n"My workout schedule was set for me to peak in the last three meets (Big Ten Chamionship, NCAA Regional, and NCAA Championship), but I can't say that I am peaking right now," Kharun said. "I am slowly growing, and I know the coaching staff hopes that growth continues."\nThe women's 4x100 team of senior Rose Richmond, senior Rachelle Boone, sophomore Ara Towns and senior Danielle Carruthers continued their dominance with a No. 3 finish with a time of 44.31. Such a performance is nothing new to this quartet as they also won the Big Ten women's 4x100 meter relay for the fourth year in a row and are now gunning for All-American honors in that event for the fourth straight time.\nThe Hoosiers sent two sprinters to the championships in the women's 100-meter. Boone entered the final race with the top qualifying time of 11.22, and she finished second in the final with 11.24. Towns also made the cut in this event with an 11.50 time, good for a No. 5 finish.\nWhile a first place finish in the 100-meter is impressive, Boone proved that she was not finished for the weekend, as she also broke the stadium record in the 200-meter event with a time of 22.93. Junior Audrey Giesler also finished fourth and moved on to the championships with a time of 10:27.54.\nOn the men's side, No. 1 seeded senior All-American Adam Judge placed first in the hammer throw, reaching the 221-foot-4-inch mark with his throw. Senior javelin thrower Pat Miller also had a good weekend as he broke the school record with a throw of 223-feet-4.5-inches. The throw also qualified him for the NCAA Track and Field Championship. \nBut Miller was almost robbed of the chance to break the record as he barely made the cut into the finals.\n"My first two throws in the trials were terrible, and in my third throw, I barely squeaked into the finals," Miller said. "But every throw from there on out got better, and my teammates and coaches put me over the top on the last throw."\nSenior Aarik Wilson also had an impressive weekend by qualifying for the NCAA Championships in both the long jump and triple jump events. Sophomore John Jefferson also made the cut in the 1500-meter event, as he finished second in his heat and fifth overall with a 3:48.05 finish. \nOverall, both the Hoosier teams said they are happy with the performance they displayed at the event.\n"It was a very, very good meet for both the men and women," women's head coach Randy Heisler said. "Rachelle Boone, Danielle Carruthers were tremendous, and Ara Towns stepped up big time as well. Audrey Giesler qualified in the steeplechase. That's great"