IU holds first outdoor meet of season

The IU men's track and field team will host its first meet of the outdoor season this weekend with the third annual Indiana Relays. Beginning Friday afternoon, the Hoosiers square off against in-state foes, the University of Indianapolis and Butler University, as well as two schools from across the Ohio River -- the University of Louisville and Bellarmine University. \nThe meet will also feature several Indiana high school track and field teams, offering an opportunity for recruiting in-state talent. \n"Traveling around the country, we compete in a lot of events where high school teams are invited," IU coach Randy Heisler said. "You don't get that a whole lot in Indiana, so we wanted to bring that here. The event allows the kids to see the facilities and is great for recruiting."\nTypically the Indiana Relays don't occur until near the end of the outdoor season, functioning as a last-chance meet for athletes to earn bids to the NCAA championships. However, as they take place so early in the season this year, it was difficult to attract a higher-profile lineup of competition. Many schools head south to compete for the first few weekends of the outdoor seasons to ensure good weather.\nLast week at the Diet Pepsi Invite -- held at the University of Florida's Pearcy Beard track -- senior throwers Ryan Ketchum and Will Fleming earned first-place honors in the shot put and hammer throw, respectively.\nAdditionally, the 4x400--meter relay team -- freshman John Gunnell, sophomores Doug Dayhoff and Ryan Smith and junior Treymane Warfield -- captured first-place honors with a regional qualifying standard time of 3 minutes, 9.14 seconds.