IU begins West Coast swing

The outdoor track season is finally in full swing, and the men's team is set to begin its quest for fast times on the West Coast beginning this weekend with the Pepsi Invitational in Eugene, Ore. After a rain-out in Florida and a blustery weekend in Bloomington, the team is itching for a solid opportunity to compete.\n"Outdoors, we don't have too many chances to compete," said sophomore All-American David Neville. "So I'll try to race as many times as possible and make them count."\nLast weekend, Neville took care of business in the 200-meters, winning the event in 20.98 seconds, qualifying for the NCAA Mideast Regional meet, set to be held in Bloomington in late May. He will now chase qualifying marks in the 400-meters and aid the young four by 400-meter squad in its quest for a regional qualifier. \n"We should have a good 4x400 meter squad," Neville said. "We just all need to get on the same page and we'll run fast."\nThis will be IU's first trip to the Pepsi Invitational, opting for it instead of recent traditional meet, the Texas Relays. The visit to Oregon kicks off two straight weekends out west. Next weekend will find the Hoosiers at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif., a traditional site of hot distance races.\n"I won't open until Mt. Sac," said junior All-American Sean Jefferson. "That's the earliest I should race at all since the season can get pretty long if you race earlier."\nRacing in Eugene will also hold off IU's baton season until the end of April, where they will race the prestigious Penn Relays, instead of beginning the relay season early at Texas.\n"Texas is a great meet," said junior All-American John Jefferson, also set to open at Mt. Sac. "But we want to have really competitive teams at Penn in the Distance Medley and the 4x1500."\nIU will continue to hunt for regional qualifiers in hopes that hosting the meet will bring its athletes some home-track advantage.\n"I think it'll be good to have the Regional at IU," said senior Aarik Wilson, who notched his triple-jump qualifier last weekend. "Hopefully it will help us qualify more guys through to NCAAs."\nLast weekend, in addition to Neville and Wilson, senior Jake Wiseman qualified in the javelin, and junior Ryan Ketchum qualified in the discus, landing himself in second place all time on IU's all time list.\nIn Oregon, Neville said the task is simple. \n"We just have to go out and get the job done," he said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Rob \nDeWitte at rdewitte@indiana.edu.