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ROWING
Hoosiers take home conference honors

A familiar setting will welcome the IU women’s rowing team this weekend as it plays host to the second annual Dale England Cup. The meet is set to take place at Riddle Point Park on Lake Lemon, just miles northeast of Bloomington.

“It’s sort of a home-field advantage for us,” sophomore Alex Burkle said. “When we travel, we have to derig the boat and load it up on a trailer, but when we race here, it’s pretty straightforward. We know the way the wind works and how it affects the boats.”

The Hoosiers are coming off a strong showing last weekend, when the team finished behind Notre Dame by just one second at the Indiana Invitational.

The meet this weekend showcases a few familiar and competitive rivals, including Boston University, Central Florida, Dayton and Miami. IU will face each squad in a 2,000-meter race, which are all head-to-head competitions.

“All three crews are really strong,” senior Emily Kasavana said. “But we’ve got a history going on with Central Florida. Since we raced on Sunday, we have been working on weaknesses to improve on, and we were able to get in three days of practice to solely focus on racing.”

IU coach Steve Peterson is optimistic about the race, citing that the team is working on building for each meet, as the long winter and odd spring weather has put a damper on normal training routines.

“We are focusing on the specifics for each race,” Peterson said. “Yes, we want to win, but if we achieve our goals then that will be the end-all, tell-all. We have a plan established, and we want to go with that. These opponents will be a great gauge for us to see where we are in the season.”

— Kyle Abrell

MEN'S TENNIS
Hoosiers’ juggled lineup takes on Big Ten foes

IU coach Randy Bloemendaal went into this season without a concrete lineup.
Fourteen matches into the year, he still doesn’t have one.

Due to injuries and inconsistent play from several team members, Bloemendaal has had to move players in and out of the lineup at different points in the season.

Juniors Lachlan Ferguson and Santiago Gruter and sophomore Jeremy Langer have all seen time at the No. 1 singles spot. Freshmen Isade Juneau and Alex van Gils have played as high as No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively, but they also sometimes find themselves cheering from the sidelines.

Even though they are the two most experienced players on the team, Ferguson and Gruter have each spent time at No. 4 singles.

A consistent doubles lineup has been even more difficult to pin down.

But Bloemendaal doesn’t feel that is a bad thing. When the No. 41 Hoosiers (10-4) take the court against Purdue and No. 15 Illinois this weekend, Bloemendaal expects the lineups to be somewhat different than they were last week.
No drastic changes, he said, but minor adjustments to give the team its best chance to win will be made.

“I feel like I have four guys that can play at the top of the lineup and then four more guys that are capable of playing at No. 5 or No. 6,” Bloemendaal said. “The lineup is probably going to change a little bit, because at 1 to 4 we are so similar. I don’t think it will ever be that concrete, because we have a competitive team with a lot of talent all the way through.”

Like they were a week ago, wins will be hard to come by this weekend. The Boilermakers (10-7), losers of two straight and seven of 11, haven’t played good tennis of late, but they have the advantage of playing an indoor home match against IU.  

The Fighting Illini (10-7) have struggled in recent matches, but they have consistently been ranked in the top 15 all season. Illinois has two ranked singles player and three ranked doubles teams.

It doesn’t matter who the opponent will be, Bloemendaal said — any conference match is a challenge.

“I don’t expect either match to be easy,” he said. “But I think both Purdue and Illinois are vulnerable in the Big Ten.”

— Justin Albers

MEN'S GOLF
Hoosiers primed for continued success in Bloomington

“Home sweet home” will be the motto of the IU men’s golf team this weekend as the adidas Hoosier Invitational will be played at the IU Golf Course.
Success has followed the Hoosiers to their home course in the past, as IU lapped the field last year, winning by 27 shots.

“We struggled out of the gate last year and got off to a shaky start, but then dominated the next two rounds,” IU coach Mike Mayer said.

The unique aspect of having a golf tournament at IU’s home course allows for Mayer to play all 11 players on his roster.

IU will field two teams of five players along with one individual to go along with the other 15 teams in the field.

The top three players in the Hoosiers lineup will remain the same as senior Alex Martin and sophomores David Erdy and Chase Wright will occupy those spots.

Freshman Brant Peaper will play in the four spot with fellow freshman Jon Beringer rounding out the lineup.

Beringer, playing in only his second college tournament, is fresh off a fourth place finish at the BSU Cardinal Collegiate.

“John has been playing really well since about January and you can see his confidence level really increase.  John earned his way into the lineup,” Mayer said.”

The Hoosiers swept the team and individual titles at last year’s adidas Hoosier Invitational, with former IU golfer Jorge Campillo claiming medalist honors. 

Playing in his final tournament on his team’s home course, Martin sees no better way to go out than to follow in Campillo’s footsteps.

“This is a big tournament for us because we need to get some wins,” Martin said. “For me personally, it would be nice to finish up my career here with a win.”

Martin’s play this weekend will go a long way to achieving the main goal for the week - another adidas Hoosier Invitational Title.

“Our goal is to win every single round and we want to send a message out there,” Mayer said.  “This is our home course and we really want to dominate the entire event.”

— Kevin Bowen

TRACK AND FIELD
Hoosiers take home 3 conference honors

Every week, the Big Ten recognizes the best track and field athletes in the conference.

But it’s rare that nearly all of the week’s recipients attend the same school, as the Hoosiers won three of the four Big Ten Track and Field Athlete of the Week awards.

Sophomore Andy Bayer was awarded Big Ten Outdoor Male Track Athlete of the Week, senior Jeff Coover won Big Ten Outdoor Male Field Athlete of the Week and sophomore Caitlin Engel was named Outdoor Female Track Athlete of the Week.

These distinctions were based on their performances last weekend at the Stanford Invitational and Alabama Relays.

At Stanford, Bayer placed third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 13:45.75, good for fifth-fastest in IU history. This is Bayer’s first Big Ten Outdoor Athlete of the Week award.

It was also Engel’s first Big Ten Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week award.

At the Alabama Relays on Saturday, she won the 3,000-meter steeplechase and competed in IU’s second-place finish in the 4x1,500-meter relay.

“I’m expecting to do better now knowing that I’ve started with this great base,” Engel said. “And I’m just hoping that with more training and coaching, I can just keep getting faster from here.”

Unlike Engel and Bayer, Coover is very familiar with receiving weekly Big Ten honors.

This week’s award marks the sixth Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week award he has received, including both his indoor and outdoor career. This ties Coover with Bob Kennedy for the most of such honors in school history.

“The main focus right now is that I just want to jump a personal record, which would probably get me that seventh Field Athlete of the Week award, which would be nice,” Coover said. “But again, my main focus when I step on the track is that I want to put up a big-time result every week.”

— Avi Zaleon

SOFTBALL
IU begins Big Ten play at Iowa

The IU softball team (7-19) goes on its first conference road trip as it starts Big Ten play this weekend in Iowa City, Iowa.

The Hoosiers won against Indiana State on Tuesday to snap a 10-game losing streak.

“Any win is going to give us momentum, and getting a win before Big Ten play will give us confidence,” freshman utility infielder Madison Diederich said.
IU leads the series against Iowa 56-34, but the Hawkeyes have won the last two games.

Iowa (16-13-1) won its first two Big Ten games against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. It has won seven of its last 10 games.

“We are trying to win little battles, and having good defense without errors is what we need to focus on,” IU coach Michelle Gardner said.

Against the Sycamores, the Hoosiers did not commit an error for the second straight game. Diederich said it is imperative that IU continue that trend.

“We should talk and communicate on the field to have solid defense and not let errors happen,” she said.

— Aaron Siegal-Eisman

WOMEN'S TENNIS
Rivalry takes new meaning for Hoosiers

A bucket might not be at stake this weekend when the IU women’s tennis team plays host to Purdue, but bragging rights and a chance to even up its Big Ten record will be.

“It’s definitely a big rivalry,” IU coach Lin Loring said. “We’ve dominated over the years, so that’s made it a little bit less of a rivalry, but it’s a pretty good rivalry. The girls want to keep it going. If we win, we can even up our record at 2-2, so it’s big from that standpoint.”

Despite the Hoosiers’ (11-5, 1-2) historic domination, the team enters the match as slight underdogs according to the later Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.
IU ranks No. 44 while Purdue (13-1, 2-1) is No. 42.

“I think it’s going to be pretty similar to the Wisconsin match,” Loring said. “It’s going to be pretty even all the way down the line. They may be a little bit favored in doubles because they’ve been playing pretty good doubles. I think the single matches are all going to be tossups.”
 
— Max McCombs