The IU men's track and field team held its first meet of the outdoor season Saturday with the Indiana Relays. In its third consecutive year, the competition saw five Hoosiers attain regional qualifying standards in their respective events.\nAfter bad weather canceled Friday's events, the IU men's squad hit the track Saturday in cold and windy conditions. Despite the unfavorable weather, the team dominated the field with five personal bests. \nThe Hoosier Relays usually occur near the end of the outdoor season, and as teams typically travel south this time of year, many schools were unavailable. As a result, several Indiana high school teams were invited to participate and see the facilities at IU.\nThe team's five regional qualifying standard marks bode extremely well for the rest of the year. In indoor track, athletes earn automatic or provisional marks throughout the season that provide eligibility in the NCAA championships. On the other hand, in the outdoor season, athletes who meet regional qualifying standards are entered in a final competition before the championships. Depending on their performance at the pre-championship meet, they may earn a bid to the championships.\nAfter meeting the NCAA regional qualifying standard at last weekend's Diet Pepsi Invite, senior thrower Will Fleming duplicated the feat Saturday. He took first place handily in the hammer throw with a 62.61-meter toss.\nBloomington North alum Ryan Smith, a sophomore, took advantage of the hometown support to notch a personal best and regional qualifying time in the men's 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 52.35 seconds.\nJunior David Neville opened the outdoor season by meeting an NCAA regional qualifying standard in his first performance. His time of 20.74 seconds in the 200-meter took first in an event that saw five Hoosiers in the top six finishers.\nJunior Stephanos Ioannou blazed to a first-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. His time of 14.27 seconds likewise met the regional qualifying standard.\nHaving already displayed his versatility throughout the indoor season, senior Ryan Ketchum met the qualifying standard Saturday in two events. He threw 18.02 meters in the shot put while hurling the discus 52.17 meters to reach the standard.\nNext weekend, IU's distance runners travel to the perennially distinguished Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif., while the rest of the team heads south to Knoxville, Tenn., for the Sea Ray Relays. Both events will be held Friday and Saturday.\n
Softball drops 4 games in Michigan
\nAfter a promising start to the Big Ten season, the IU softball team surrendered sweeps to No. 12 Michigan and Michigan State.\nThe team, which was 3-1 last week in the opening weekend of the Big Ten conference, has now lost five in a row heading into a game against rival Kentucky on Wednesday.\nIn the first game of the weekend, IU fell to Michigan 4-2. Despite the efforts of freshman Sarah Padove, who hit a two-run home run, and senior pitcher Mariangee Bogado, who struck out seven Wolverines on the day, the team could not come away with a victory. The two runs scored in the game would be the last the IU would score on the weekend.\nIn the second game against Michigan, the Hoosiers kept the game tight through four innings -- only allowing one run and stranding five runners. The Wolverines would extend their lead with two runs in the fifth one in the sixth. IU had four hits on the day, but was unable to get a runner across the plate.\nIn the final two games of the weekend, Michigan State swept IU in a doubleheader by scores of 1-0 and 2-0, respectively. \nBogado started both games and tallied a total of 15 strikeouts. She also went 4-for-6 from the plate in the pair of games.\nIn the first game, Bogado had a no-hitter through four innings. The Spartans finally managed hits, but the Hoosier defense would hold strong and keep the shutout going. However, in the Spartan half of the sixth, they scored the only run of the day and eventually came away with the victory.\nIn the second game of the double header, the Hoosiers ended the weekend with another loss. The team was shut out for the third straight game, even though it registered three hits in late innings. \nIU will look to halt its losing streak with a double header against Kentucky at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the IU Softball Field. \n
Men's tennis \ndrops last match of homestand
\nThe No. 66 IU men's tennis team lost to No. 4 Ohio State at IU Varsity Tennis Courts on Saturday -- the last match of an up-and-down conference home-stand. \nThe Hoosiers were in high spirits after defeating Wisconsin, only to lose a heartbreaker to Northwestern last weekend. IU fell to 13-8 on the season and 2-4 in Big Ten action after the 6-1 loss to Ohio State. The Buckeyes are 17-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play.\nDespite straight set wins across the board in singles for Ohio State, IU was able to grab a hold of one point following a three-set win over Ross Wilson by senior Neil Kenner. Kenner extended his winning streak to six matches with a win at the No. 4 singles spot. The Dallas native took an early lead on Wilson by claiming the first set, 6-4, only to be forced into a third set by a resilient Wilson and his 6-2 victory in the second set. \nInstead of a third set, the players agreed to play a super tiebreaker, thanks to the team match being already clinched by the Buckeyes. Kenner rallied to claim the super tiebreaker, 10-8, and with the victory moved to 15-9 on the year and 4-2 in conference play.\nOhio State claimed the doubles point early by winning at all three positions. The Hoosiers' No. 1 tandem of senior Dmytro Ishtuganov and sophomore Dara McLoughlin was neck and neck with the Buckeye tandem of Scott Green and Wilson -- ranked nationally as the second best doubles pair. Ishtuganov and McLoughlin held even at 4-4 before Ohio State won four of the remaining five games to attain the victory, 8-5. At the No. 2 position, freshman Peter Antons and junior David Bubenicek fell to OSU's Devin Mullings and Chris Klingemann , 8-1, and the Buckeyes' No. 3 duo of Drew Edberly and Bryan Koniecko disposed of Kenner and sophomore Michael McCarthy with an 8-3 victory.\nThe singles portion of the match saw Ohio State -- a lineup that features three players ranked among the top 85 players nationally -- take five of the six singles matches from IU.\nAt the No. 3 spot, McLoughlin lost his second consecutive match after his ten-match win streak to No. 49 Koniecko of Ohio State, 6-3, 6-2. Mullings earned the clinching victory at the No. 2 slot over Bubenick -- who fell to 18-9 on the year -- with a 6-2, 6-3 win. At the No. 1 spot, Ishtuganov led in both sets before falling to No. 76 Klingemann, 6-4, 6-4. In the No. 6 position, junior Arnaud Roussel also dropped a close match to Eberly, 6-4, 6-4. At the No. 5 spot, Dennis Mertens picked up the win over McCarthy in two sets, 6-0, 6-3.\nThe Hoosiers will be on the road for two matches against Iowa on April 14 and then to No. 40 Minnesota on April 15.
