Team looks to end Michigan's streak

Defending Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Champion Michigan looks for a third straight title this year, with IU looking to end that streak, as the team finished second to Michigan the past two seasons. \nSince 1999, IU finished in third twice and runner-up the last two seasons, as the team's last indoor title came in 2000.\nLast weekend, IU gave a number of athletes the weekend off, despite hosting the Hoosier Hills Invitational at the Gladstein Fieldhouse, in preparation for the Big Ten Indoor Championships, which begins tomorrow morning in Iowa City, Iowa.\nIU coach Randy Heisler said that in previous seasons, before entering the conference indoor championship, there were clear-cut No.1 and 2 teams known to be the early favorite to take home the team title. However, Heisler said that this season, four or five teams could take home the hardware, and he said IU is one of those teams.\n"I'll be very disappointed if we're not in the top half of the conference, even with the number of injuries we've had," Heisler said. "Everything we do is pointed towards the conference from a team standpoint."\nThe most notable injury affecting the team occurred when junior Emily Tharpe broke her arm competing in the pole-vault two weeks ago in the Tyson Foods Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.\nIU does not have any athletes seeded No.1 in any event. Heisler said for the team to win the meet, IU needs its athletes to finish one to three places higher than where the conference seeded them because IU does not have the depth Michigan and Penn State do.\n"(IU sophomore) Andrea Dalla Rosa threw a season best (in the shot put) last weekend, which ties her for eighth place in the conference," Heisler said. "She was fourth last year as a freshman. If she throws the shot one foot farther than she's thrown this year, it takes her from about eighth place up to about third place. If she throws two feet farther ... she wins."\nDalla Rosa threw the shot 14.92-meters in the Hoosier Hills Invitational. \nShe said the level of intensity is different at the Big Ten meet, which is the reason for setting her personal record, and she expects to improve tomorrow because of this intensity level.\n"It is a lot more fun because everyone is tense and everybody's anxious and riled up to go, and so that kind of environment gets everyone else going and it's just a lot better," Dalla Rosa said.\nIU sophomore high jumper, Jean Schaffer, said the jumpers didn't jump in practice this week but worked on technique so they can be fresh to jump this weekend.\n"It means so much more what you are going for, especially this year," Schaffer said. "As a freshman, I didn't really have very many expectations for myself, but this season, the door is kind of open for me. I'll definitely go in there with an attitude of commitment to winning."\n-- Contact staff writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.