Hoosiers travel south for Tyson Invitational

The IU track men face their toughest competition of the season this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Tyson Invitational. The meet is one of the centerpieces of the USATF Golden Spike Tour and will feature a mixture of top-notch collegiate athletes and both American and foreign professionals. \nIt is set for broadcast from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Saturday on ESPN2. Arkansas' track facility features one of the best indoor tracks in the world, a 200-meter banked oval surrounded by bleachers perennially packed with spectators. \nThe men's team is set to send a more limited roster than usual, as the entry standards are stiffer than typical collegiate meets. \nThe featured athletes on the men's side include sophomore All-American Sean Jefferson, fresh off a 4:00.83 mile ranking him fifth, collegiately (2nd American), and will run the 1600-meter leg in the Distance Medley Relay with sophomore Eric Redman running the 1200-meter leg, freshman David Neville running the 400-meter leg and senior Rodney Hollis on the 800-meter leg. \nThe team hopes to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The automatic qualifying time is 9:35. The provisional standard is 9:45. If too few teams dip under the automatic standard, the remaining slots are filled with teams under the provisional standard.\n"I want to run faster than my best time this year in my leg," said Hollis, "I think it will take at least 1:51 to qualify."\n"With Neville below 48 seconds, Redman able to run under 3:00, Hollis in the 800 and Sean at or under 4:00 on the 1600, which is about a second faster than a mile," said distance coach Robert Chapman, "you've got to think we've got a shot at going auto if the guys are ready."\nA number of Hoosiers will compete individually, many with an eye on qualifying for the NCAA Championships, held at Arkansas in just over a month ago. Senior All-American Chris Powers will run the 5,000-meters along with sophomore Stephen Haas and senior Nathan Gooden. Powers, who ran an IU indoor record 13:59 in qualifying for NCAA's two years ago, will chase the automatic standard of 13:54.\n"We've had great workouts lately, and I think that showed in our mile last weekend," said Haas, "All we have to do now is prove ourselves nationally. I don't think 13:54 is out of reach, and I definitely think 14:16 (the 5,000 provisional standard) is doable."\nJunior thrower Ryan Ketchum will compete in the shot put, where he ranks seventh in the Big Ten, along with senior Mike Minton. Freshman Stephanos Iaonnou will compete in the 60-meter hurdles. Kiwan Lawson, a freshman making noise in the horizontal jumps in the Big Ten with the absence of IU junior All-American Aarik Wilson, will compete in the long jump. \nSenior Tom Burns will run the mile, while senior Nathan Purcell and junior Charlie Koeppen will run the 3,000-meters. Junior sprinter Andre Grimes will run both the 60 and 200-meters. Senior jack-of-all-trades, Jake Wiseman, will compete in the heptathlon. \n-- Contact staff writer Rob DeWitte at rdewitte@indiana.edu.