Men's golf team headed to NCAAs\nFor the first time since the 1996-97 season and the first time in coach Mike Mayer's six-year tenure, IU has been selected to the NCAA Men's Golf Championships. The Hoosiers will participate in the Central Regionals in West Lafayette next weekend, May 20-22.\n"We are excited and a little relieved," Mayer said. "We really felt like we deserved this after the good, productive season we had. We beat a lot of good teams. We feel like we can compete, and we're ready to get started."\nThe Hoosiers enter the Regional boasting -- one of the nation's top golfers in Big Ten Golfer of the Year, Jeff Overton. Overton, a five-time Big Ten Golfer of the Week and winner of five tournaments this season, will lead IU in the Regional along with second team All-Big Ten honoree, junior Heath Peters. \nIU is coming off one of the most successful seasons in the program's history after claiming four team titles -- the second-most in school history and the most since 1975 and with a top ten finish on a course they know well, the Hoosiers would qualify for the NCAA Championship finals to be played in Hot Springs, Va.
McKay to try out for Canadian team\nA week after learning junior teammate Cyndi Valentin will compete with the Puerto Rican national team this summer, sophomore center Sarah McKay will attend an open tryout Tuesday in British Columbia, in attempts to earn a spot on the Canadian women's basketball national team. \n"I am very excited to get a chance to play for the Canadian National Team," McKay said. "It has been a dream of mine to do this for a long time, and I am honored to get this opportunity and look forward to the tryout."\nThe 6-foot-7 McKay recently finished her freshman year at IU and made an instant impact in the post. Last season, her 55 blocks established a new single-season school freshman record, surpassing the previous mark of 47. \nIf McKay makes the team, she will become the third Hoosier women's basketball player to compete in international competition. The others being former Hoosier Linda Cunningham who competed for the Canadian National Team in 1983 and 1984 and current Hoosier Valentin.\nA native of Victoria, British Columbia, McKay has prior experience with Canada Basketball, as she was one of only 22 players invited to participate at the 2002 Canada Basketball Developmental Mini-Camp and she competed for the Under-17 British Columbia Provincial Team in 2001 and 2002.\n"We are very excited that Sarah is getting an opportunity like this," IU head coach Kathi Bennett said. "She has come up through the ranks of Canada Basketball and is getting a chance to do something she has always wanted to do. We are very proud of her."
Hoosiers gear up for Big Ten Championships\nThe IU women's track and field team heads to West Lafayette this weekend to compete in the 2004 Big Ten Outdoor Championships. \nThe team is coming off an impressive showing at the Billy Hayes Invitational last week in Bloomington and will try to use their performances as motivation this weekend.\nIn the 1500-meter event, four out of five Hoosiers turned in personal bests as senior Audrey Giesler clocked in a time of 4:31.35 seconds, sophomore Kelly Siefker shaved seven seconds off her previous personal best with a time of 4:31.38, junior Julie Shields turned in a 4:43.09 and freshman Kristin Whitezell ran a 4:45.36.\nFreshman hurdler Courtney Johnson, who has made steady improvement over the past few weeks turned in yet another personal best in the 100-meter hurdles with a regional qualifying time of 13.55, good for a first-place finish.\nThe Hoosier women finished tied for second with Penn State with 124 points at last year's Big Ten Championships, behind first-place Michigan. \nThe first event of the Big Ten Championships, the decathlon 100-meters is set to begin Friday at noon. The men's 4x400-meter relay is the final event of the weekend and is slated to begin at 3:45 p.m., Sunday.
