Hoosiers take 2nd in Big Tens

The men's track team did everything it could to contend for the Big Ten Indoor Track title this weekend. As consolation, the team notched its highest finish since 1992's conference title with a runner-up effort Saturday and Sunday.\nAlthough IU coach Randy Heisler said he expected Wisconsin to dominate, the future remains bright, as IU will return all its top talent in 2006.\n"You know, we could have everything go right for us at this meet and still finish second," Heisler said before the meet.\nHeisler's prediction rang true. IU scored nearly every point it was expected to, finishing with 105.5. In the end, Wisconsin's depth of strength in the 5,000-meter -- where it scored four athletes -- solidified the 40-point Badger victory. \nSaturday, junior All-American and IU school record-holder Aarik Wilson put on a dazzling display of jumping, first taking a sizable victory in the long jump with a leap of 7.58 meters. Sophomore Kiwan Lawson finished in fourth. Sunday, Wilson leapt back into the NCAA triple jump lead, soaring past the NCAA automatic qualifying standard to an easy win with a mark of 16.83 meters, leaving a victory margin of almost a full meter.\nOn the track, it was crucial that IU qualify all its athletes from Saturday's preliminaries to Sunday's finals. A failure to give a solid effort in a preliminary can saddle a tall sprinter with the extra burden of a tight inside-lane draw. If sophomore All-American David Neville had drawn lane one, his task would have been more difficult. Neville took this knowledge to heart and secured himself good lanes, culminating in a 200-meter title and a runner-up finish in the 400.\nThe mostly hotly contested events in the Big Ten in recent years have been the distance races. Saturated with distance talent, each race is an epic battle.\nOver the past three years, IU's Jefferson twins have traded mile supremacy with Olympian Nick Willis of Michigan. In 2003, John Jefferson ran Willis down in the final meters for a split-second win. Last year, Willis got the jump on Sean Jefferson and took home the win. In a year where all three runners have run under four minutes in the mile, the group passed the halfway mark in 2:33 -- on pace for a 5:06 mile. In a blistering finish, Sean avenged last year's loss, nipping Willis at the line by one-hundredth of a second, requiring a photo finish to determine the winner. \n"After Willis made his move, Sean just wouldn't give in and wouldn't give in and finally nabbed him," said IU volunteer assistant coach Chris Ekman.\nSean's winning time of 4:26.70 was marked by a searing final quarter-mile. John Jefferson also ran the distance medley relay the previous day and finished just a second back in third in 4:27.88. \n"Last year, I walked off the track wondering what I could do to beat him," Sean said. "I just gave it everything I had in the last lap to run him down."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Rob DeWitte at rdewitte@indiana.edu.