Team drops close meet to Purdue, 94-92

Mother Nature's skies above the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex held off her spring showers until the conclusion of the last event Saturday -- the men's 4x400-meter relay. Visiting arch-rival Purdue arrived at the stadium Saturday for the annual dual-meet to rain and both IU and Purdue decided to cancel the meet. But, as Purdue's buses started to leave the parking lot, the rain stopped, Purdue stayed in Bloomington and took advantage of a break in the weather by winning the women's portion of the meet, scoring 94 points to IU's 92.\n"We've got a number of people on this team who show up, but they forget that we keep score," IU coach Randy Heisler said. "When you show up at a track meet against Purdue, and you choke, then you choke, period. Either don't show up, but don't bring that onto this team because that is unacceptable. \n"We are so much better than we showed today and it's simply because we've got a bunch of little girls out there. Grow the hell up, and show up, and compete."\nBoth squads kept the score close the entire way until Purdue solidified its position heading into the final event for the women -- the 4x400-meter relay -- when Purdue had 91 points to IU's 87. The only way the Hoosiers could pull out a team victory in the last event would be a Boilermaker dropped baton.\nHoosier freshman Michele Huber got the relay team out to a quick start and sophomore Kristen Kallner maintained the relay's lead until 100-meters remained in her leg when she gave the lead to Purdue.\nOn the third leg, with 75-meters remaining, sophomore LaDonna Ray regained the lead for the Hoosiers and handed the baton off to freshman Stacey Clausing who held onto Ray's lead, cruising the Hoosiers to victory in the event in 3 minutes, 44.79 seconds, giving the team five points and Purdue three to add for the final score.\nThe 4x400-relay was Clausing's third running event Saturday as she also competed in the 400- and 200-meter dashes. In the 400-dash, Clausing dominated from the start, finishing in 54.62 seconds -- two-hundredths of a second removed from the NCAA regional qualifying mark -- and Clausing came back onto the track about an hour later to dominate again from the start in the 200-dash, finishing in 24.27 seconds.\nClausing, who already met the NCAA regional qualifying mark April 17 at the Nebraska Quadrangular, said she needs to go out harder and be more aggressive coming around the last turn in the 400-dash to reach the NCAA regional mark in that event.\n"I was just trying to be competitive, because it is against Purdue and it is always a big meet for us," Clausing said. "I just wanted to get as many points as I could for the team so we could win."\nThe Boilermakers' victory on the women's side combined with the Hoosiers' victory on the men's side keeps the Titan Series standings tied at 8.5 points. Men's golf, softball and baseball remain as the events to determine this school year's Titan Series Champion.\nIU has one meet remaining before the Big Ten Championship in West Lafayette in 11 days. Freshman Courtney Johnson took first in the 100 and 400-meter hurdles with a NCAA regional qualifying time of 13.68 and 1:03.77 in each respective event. Johnson said this coming Saturday's Bill Hayes Invitational at the Haugh Track and Field complex provides her the opportunity to work on her form and reach the NCAA qualifying mark in the 400-hurdles.\n"I'm good for the first 300-meters, and then I just think I just need to get more endurance, more endurance and training to get it mentally in my head that I can actually run this race," Johnson said. "I just figure I am strong enough to do it, I just have to get it in my head to do it. But, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be today and I PR'ed today, so I guess that is a plus."\n-- Contact staff writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.