No pressure for IU at Big Ten Championships

For the IU track and field squad, the whole season was based on not only winning, but also going to Nationals and bringing a championship to IU.

Though the NCAA Championships are one small aspect of the squad’s aspirations for this season, the Hoosiers wouldn’t mind raising a conference championship trophy at the conclusion of the Big Ten Championships on Saturday and Sunday.

The IU women will head to West Lafayette, as the team will have to split up for a third straight week.

The men, led by sophomore standout runner Andy Bayer, will be heading to Illinois. Bayer said he believes not paying attention to high expectations can make him and his teammates more at ease Saturday.

“We’re all excited, but we cannot make a big deal out of it,” Bayer said. “We put pressure on ourselves if our mindset going in is living up to our expectations and goals we already set for ourselves.”

Coach Ron Helmer said his team prepared for this all season and that it is ready, but he said he still wants to see more individuals step up.

“We’re as prepared as we can be,” Helmer said. “We just got to focus, and we need more than our top individuals on this team to step up to the challenge.”