Hoosiers host Big Tens

In 2009, the women’s track and field team finished fourth in the Big Ten Championships, only winning one individual title. Winning the same amount of individual titles, the men’s team came in sixth. This year however, the Hoosiers look to utilize another year of experience as well as several seemingly unstoppable athletes to push through the rest of the Big Ten.

The Hoosiers look to be a force to be reckoned with this weekend at Robert C. Haugh Complex, where they will host this year’s conference championship, especially after the women’s team moved into the Division I top-25 rankings, up 12 spots from their previous rank of 34th. The team’s change in ranking is mainly a result of their success at Billy Hayes Invitational last week, where the men’s and women’s teams combined to win seven events. 

However, rankings are not as important in track and field as they might be in the BCS or men’s basketball, IU coach Ron Helmer said. Instead, the ranking system is based upon a projection. 

“The national rankings are based on what is projected to be our ability to score points in a national meet,” Helmer said, adding that because the rankings are mere projections, they don’t matter as much to the team as experience and success.
  
“We’re a year older than we were a year ago and hopefully a year better and a little bit deeper,” Helmer said. “As we go through this process of recruiting, and so on and so forth, we’ll get better and better and better. Unfortunately, it’s a slower process than I wish it was, but we’re making great progress.”

The development of the Hoosiers this season has foundations in athletes who have had nationally ranked times, heights and distances in multiple meets during the outdoor season. One in particular is senior Molly Beckwith, who has the second-best Division I time in the 800-meter, clocking a 2:02.18 during the Billy Hayes Invite on May 7.

However, Beckwith is not the only Hoosier dominating rankings, as junior Faith Sherrill  recently broke the IU hammer throw record by more than 13 feet. Her heave of 58.46 meters is the best in the Big Ten. Stepping it up for the men are senior pole vaulter Jeff Coover, sophomore high jumper Derek Drouin, and sophomore long jumper Olu Olamigoke. The three won their individual events at the Billy Hayes invite, the precursor for the conference championships.

On the current squad, IU has five different athletes who were crowned Big Ten champions either last year or in this year’s indoor season, Helmer said, adding that there are several other Hoosiers who have the potential to win a Big Ten title.

However, those attending the conference championship this weekend might be awed more by the recent changes to Billy Hayes track than by the competition. The track was replaced with a Polytan surface and has only been used for one meet. The surface is the first of its kind in both the United States and the western hemisphere. Helmer said he expects the other Big Ten athletes and coaches will have a good reception of the new track.

“I think they’re going to like it a lot,” Helmer said. “If the weather’s good, particularly, we know that the quality of the competition is very, very good, and when you get really good athletes on a good surface in good weather, there’s not a whole lot of bad that’s going to happen.”