The IU track and field squads will take their five Big Ten champions and many other athletes to Columbia, Mo. Friday to compete in the NCAA Mideast Regional. The regional meet is an opportunity for competitors to finish near the top of their respective events and earn themselves a bid to compete at the NCAA Track and Field National Championships.\nIU has a total five Big Ten champions: two pole vaulters, two long jumpers and one distance runner.
The pole vaulters\nSophomore Blayne Burkholder seems to perform better in the elements during the outdoor season. Burkholder, who won the pole-vault competition at the outdoor Big Ten championships, finished fifth at the indoor Big Ten championships in February. \nBurkholder was unable to break 5.00 meters the whole indoor season but improved so much during the outdoor season that he recorded a personal best mark of 5.15 meters. Burkholder’s teammate won a pole vault championship as well. \nThe win continued freshman Vera Neuenswander’s amazing year, as she had already finished second at the indoor Big Ten championships, setting a school and Big Ten record at 4.11 meters.\nAt the time, Neuenswander’s mark made her the number one freshman in the nation, a title she still holds.\n“She’s a competitor – that’s the main thing about Vera,” vaulting coach Jake Wiseman said after the indoor championships. “She didn’t know she had broken the school record; she didn’t know she had broken the conference record; she didn’t know she was now the number one freshman in the country; none of this was obvious. She just went out and competed. She forgot about what was happening – she just wanted to win.”\nNeuenswander currently ranks seventh overall in the nation, according to http://ww.trackshark.com.
The long jumpers\nIn recent years, IU has earned itself a reputation for great jumpers, with alums like Aarik Wilson and David Neville, who both earned multiple Big Ten championships and national championships. This year, seniors Kiwan Lawson and Lorian Price continued IU’s tradition of strong jumpers.\nLawson is the best long jumper in the Big Ten. He won the indoor championship in February and repeated his performance as Big Ten champion, winning the outdoor championships with a jump of 7.79 meters.\nThat leap placed him in the top 15 nationally.\nPrice earned her first Big Ten title with a jump of 6.46 meters, which was good enough rank her eighth in the nation and third in IU history. \n“They are both going to have to finish in the top five to get to nationals,” men’s interim head coach and jumps coach Wayne Pate said. “That is within their capabilities, but their qualifying marks won’t get them an at large bid to get to nationals. … We are in a very tough regional for jumps, and it is going to be tough to get out, but (Lawson and Price) are two tough athletes.”
Senior Jessica Gall\nGall is currently winding down a remarkable career at IU in track and cross country. Fittingly, she won the 10,000-meter run on the first day of the outdoor championships. Surprisingly, this is Gall’s first Big Ten championship, although she competed at indoor nationals her junior year, and outdoor nationals last year.\nIn cross country, Gall is one of only two women at IU ever to qualify for the NCAAs every year of her career.\n“Jess is somebody who is a Foot Locker finalist out of high school, and some of those finalists don’t necessarily live up to their high school stature,” said women’s interim track and field head coach and head women’s cross country coach Judy Wilson. “She has not only fulfilled her obligation to the team, but she has gone above and beyond that, running the second-fastest time in school history in the 10,000- and the 5,000-meter runs, and has brought Indiana into the national spotlight.”\nGall will be running the 5,000-meter run alongside the other woman who has competed in nationals every year of her tenure in cross country at IU, senior Lindsey Hattendorf.
The rest of the competitors\nIU is bringing nine additional athletes to the tournament, on top of those previously mentioned, as well as three additional relay squads. In all, IU is bringing 25 athletes – 15 on the men’s side and 10 on the women’s.\nOf Indiana’s three relay squads, both the men’s and women’s 4x100-meter relay teams will be competing.\n“It is very pleasing to have three relay teams going,” sprint’s coach George Freeman said. “They are very focused. As for the 4x100-meter relays squads, we don’t have anyone competing in the 100-meter dash, so they had to really pull together.”\nThe other squad competing is the men’s 4x400-meter team.\n“The 4x4 just had the desire to perform at the right time,” Freeman said. “They had to peak at the right times, and they had to trust that my training would get them to.”\nIU’s first event will be Friday when freshman Eric Werskey will compete in the discus throw.
