Track team finds success at Hoosier Hills

Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams look to use success in Friday’s Hoosier Hills invite to boost their confidence heading into next weekend’s Big Ten championships.\n“The team did really good,” assistant coach Jake Wiseman said. “They are definitely improving getting ready for the Big Tens.”\nThe men’s team took four events, including the 200-meter dash where senior Kiwan Lawson finished first with a personal best time of 21.71 seconds, which also clocks in as the team’s best time in the event. Junior Doug Dayhoff was second behind his teammate with a time of 21.87 seconds, while junior Keith Heerdegen rounded out the top five with a time of 22.02 seconds.\nSophomore Jeff Coover also finished first in pole vault with a height of 5.07 meters. Sophomore Blayne Burkholder increased his personal best for the second week in a row, posting a height of 4.92 meters, finishing third.\nCoover is currently second in the Big Ten behind Michigan State’s Mark Langlois, whose best jump this season (5.21 meters) edges out Coover’s best by 1 centimeter. Coover, however, feels that he is more consistent than Langlois.\n“I’m coming along nicely, I hit 5.20, repeated it, and I know I can do it week in and week out,” Coover said. “I know that I’m ready to make my mark on my first attempt, and that’s what it could come down to, number of attempts.”\nThe women’s pole-vaulters also had a strong meet heading into the conference championships. \nFreshman Vera Neuenswander finished third in the pole vault with a mark of 3.50 meters. Freshman Katherine Hopkins set a personal best 3.35 meters.\n“This was a good tune-up week,” Wiseman said. “I’m expecting good things out of the team. They just need to stay calm and do what they need to do.”\nThe women’s side of the track and field team, like the men’s, also had four wins Friday. Freshman Jackie Coleman won the triple jump with a personal best 11.53 meters.\nSeniors Lorian Price and Stacey Clausing finished second and fourth in the 60-meter dash. Price had a time of 7.68 seconds and Clausing had a time of 7.71 seconds.\nSophomore Audrey Smoot won the 600-meter run with a time of 1:34.01, and senior Candace Perry won the long jump, leaping 5.77 meters.\n“We’re excited and ready to go for Big Tens. We’ve got a group of seniors that we expect big things out of and they expect big things out of themselves,” women’s head coach Judy Wilson said in a statement. “We also have an excited and enthusiastic group of underclassmen. We have a lot of potential and need to come out with both guns loaded.”\nThis weekend’s Big Ten championships will split up the men’s and women’s track and field teams. The women travel to Illinois, and the men host in Bloomington.