Hoosiers excel in Indiana Relays

Being back at home served the Hoosiers well at this past weekend's Indiana Relays. Many of the athletes conjured up personal bests and there was even a couple who met NCAA regional-qualifying standards.\nCompeting for the first time this outdoor season back at IU seemed to be very important for the success of the team in many different events.\n"Being on our home track was great, especially for the steeplechase, since it was our first time competing in it," said freshman Ashley Sommer.\nJuniors Courtney Johnson and Lorian Price both hurdled their way to regional-qualifying standard marks in front of the home fans. Both competed in the 100-meter hurdles with Johnson earning the better time of the two at 13.38 seconds, while Price ran a 13.55.\nPersonal bests seemed to be the main theme of the event with eight being handed out, not including the personal bests of Johnson and Price.\nFreshmen Lindsey and Courtney Freiberger both notched personal bests and placed first and second respectively in the 400-meter hurdles. Lindsey ran a 1:04.33 and Courtney was not far behind with a time of 1:04.85.\nThe 200-meter was no stranger to producing triumphant personal bests with three athletes achieving the status in the event alone. Freshman Audrey Smoot placed third in the event and notched herself a best time of 25.69 with freshman Caitlin Lauer and sophomore Kyndal Carr not far behind in fourth place and fifth place, with times of 26.01 and 26.04 respectively.\nSenior Jean Schaffer earned fifth in the long jump event, but had her best leap of 4.87 meters. Continuing with the "jumping to success" idea, junior Sarah Gilleran came in second place in the high jump and ascended to a personal best of 1.61 meters. Last but not least, sophomore Jamie Reklau pole vaulted a height of 3.10 meters -- her new best -- and garnered a second-place finish.\nBefore the Indiana Relays took place, senior Larra Overton mentioned some goals she had for the event and how her aim was to compete at her highest level.\nOverton and junior Stacey Clausing did not notch personal best times, but they both earned first-place finishes on two separate occasions, at least partly accomplishing what Overton set out to do. Clausing trumped everyone in the 200-meter race with a time of 24.07 and in the 400-meter with a 55.5h, meaning Clausing received a hand time due to technical difficulties. Overton claimed the best overall times in the 800-meter and the 1500-meter with times of 2:13.03 and 4:43.14 respectively.\nAfter finally settling in at home, it is time to uproot again next weekend. Part of the team will be off to the Mt. Sac Relays back in California, while the others will be in the Sea Ray Relay in Tennessee.