Hoosiers place 5th in conference meet

The environment inside IU’s Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse had all the ingredients of a high-powered action movie as it hosted the men’s Big Ten indoor championships, complete with gunshots, foot-races and a lot of screaming. \nThe stars of the meet for Indiana were senior long jumper Kiwan Lawson and junior triple jumper Kyle Jenkins. The two combined to give IU 31 of its 72 points.\nWith a leap of 7.73 meters, Lawson earned IU 10 points and became the Big Ten men’s long jump champion on day one of the meet. Fresh off of the podium Lawson ran a personal best 21.39 seconds in the 200-meter dash prelims, easily qualifying for the finals on day two. Lawson would finish third in the finals, giving him another trip to the podium, while earning IU six more points.\n“This is the Big Tens, this is what it all comes down to,” Lawson said, “and it was at home so you really have to get into it and pump yourself up, and create some energy and momentum for your team.”\nMen’s interim head coach Wayne Pate also discussed how being at home was a great motivator for his athletes.\n“The crowd has been great, and I really think that the guys are running stronger since they are in front of their family and friends,” Pate said.\nLawson’s teammate Jenkins was also crowned a Big Ten champion. Jenkins won the triple jump on day two of the meet. He posted a leap of 15.66 meters and earned IU 10 points. Jenkins also finished fourth in the long jump on the first day of the meet, earning IU five more points. \n“It is great to see these two carry on the tradition of jumpers here at IU,” Pate said.\nSophomore Ryan Smith posted a school record and personal best of 1:19.03 in the 600-meter dash on the day one preliminaries. Smith then came back to the field house the next day and broke that record, posting a time of 1:18.99. The previous school record was 1:19.25 set by Ryan Huber in the 2000 Big Ten Championships.\nIf the meet were a movie than it would not have had a happy ending, as despite being in second after day one of the championships, IU ended up fifth. Wisconsin won its seventh Big Ten title in as many years, scoring 120 points. This was primarily because of their dominant distance team, something the IU squad has been lacking in all year. IU’s distance medley was the only event to bring in points on the distance side. The team consisting of junior Brennan Plotner, sophomore Martin Stephen, freshman Milos Mikic and freshman Tyler McCreary finished sixth in the event with a time of 10:08.35.\nPate was happy, however, with how his team performed overall this weekend.\n“As a coach you always want more from your athletes, but I am very pleased with the effort the guys showed me,” Pate said, “especially the guys who scored that weren’t expected to. The whole team seemed to really lay it all down on the line – they didn’t have their best times, but they did what they had to. Now all we need is more of these kinds of athletes.”