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Track and Field
IU dominates Purdue in dual meet

The IU track and field team won 22 of its 30 events Saturday to defeat Purdue in its first dual meet of the season.

The women’s team outscored its Purdue counterparts with a 93-43 score, highlighted by junior Faith Sherrill and senior Ashley Rhoades.

Sherrill, who broke the school shot put record in the Indiana Open, recorded a 16.80-meter toss Saturday to improve upon her NCAA distance lead.

Like Sherrill, Rhoades set the bar for the rest of the country at the dual meet against Purdue. Her 1.84-meter mark in the high jump is the highest in the NCAA this season and breaks an IU school record set in 1997, making her the first woman in school history to clear six feet.

“Six feet has always been a lifetime goal for me,” Rhoades said. “So it’s kind of surreal; it hasn’t really set in yet. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment and I don’t want to stop there, but it’s something I have always wanted.”  

The men’s team was also triumphant against the Boilermakers, 96-40, and had three student athletes achieve provisional qualifying marks.

Sophomore Olumide Olamigoke recorded an event-winning distance of 15.48 meters in the triple jump to earn his first career provisional qualifying mark.

Senior pole-vaulter Jeff Coover also earned a provisional qualifying mark, clearing 5.41 meters to improve upon his season-best performance by five centimeters.

“It was the kind of day you would hope to have,” IU coach Ron Helmer said. “The bonus today was while we were going out trying to beat Purdue, we had some great marks, too.”
– Avi Zaleon

Men’s Swimming and Diving
Hoosiers winless against Buckeyes

The No. 20 IU men’s swimming and diving team (1-4) suffered a tough loss for the second straight week, falling 224-74 at No. 12 Ohio State (6-0).

The Hoosiers had seven second-place finishes but no wins. IU has now lost four consecutive matches since the start of the season with
a victory.

IU coach Ray Looze has been pushing the men in practice but knows the youth and inexperience of his team will continue to be a major factor this season.
“I told the guys after the meet we are real close, but it looks like we are miles and miles away,” he said.

Looze knows the men are doing the right things in practice, but the team will have to keep plugging away in order to turn those second-place finishes into event wins.

“I take full responsibility for (the defeat). I’m the head coach,” he said. “I just know this team will turn it around, whether it’s the next meet or in a couple of weeks.”
– Caitlin Ursini

Women’s Tennis
Hoosiers start spring season 2-0

The IU women’s tennis team made coach Lin Loring’s 1,000th career match a good one.

After dropping a pair of close doubles contests to concede the doubles point to Western Michigan, the Hoosiers, missing a pair of starting singles players from last year, stormed back to win five of their six singles matches against the Broncos.

“Western Michigan always plays great doubles. They took the doubles point off of us last year, too,” Loring said. “I was really pleased with the way we came back and focused on the singles. There were three close singles matches and we won all three. That was the difference in the match.”

Making their spring-season debuts for IU were freshman Leslie Hureau and sophomore Evgeniya Vertesheva, a transfer from California State-Northridge. The two newcomers were slotted in the top two singles spots for the team.

“I didn’t play well in doubles. I didn’t play that well, but I won my match,” Hureau said.

The Hoosiers followed up their morning victory with an afternoon contest against Butler. The Hoosiers won every match for a 7-0 triumph, but Loring said the score was a bit misleading.

“Butler’s top two doubles team hit as hard as anyone we will play this year. It was great practice for us,” Loring said. “Plus, our legs were tired from the morning match. Although the score might look one-sided, it was really good early-season preparation for us.”

Vertesheva and senior team captain Lindsey Stuckey partnered up for both their doubles matches of the day. They won both, and each also won both their singles matches.

“Personally, it was a good start for me to start the season with two wins. I think it helped the motivation of the team,” Stuckey said. “Throughout the match, it was pretty tight. ... I think it helped, having a couple of wins from the start, bring up the team morale.”

While pleased with his team’s performance for the day, especially in singles, Loring said there is still work to be done before the Hoosiers next matches Saturday against Miami of Ohio University and Ball State.

“I think it’s a nice win,” Loring said, “but the team knows ‘you could be better.’ I think they’re overall going to be very pleased (by) the way we played in singles, just because they were close and we won them. If we had won every match 6-1, 6-0, it wouldn’t have been the same, but the fact that we had to come out and battle with the matches close makes them a lot more meaningful.”
– Max McCombs