Summer in review: Top 10 IU sports moments

10) Griffith becomes first IU football 2013 commit (June 11)

Coming off a 1-11 season, Head Coach Kevin Wilson needed to build a foundation for future success. The first piece of that foundation arrived in the form of Homestead High School (Fort Wayne) junior wide receiver Isaac Griffith.

Griffith, rated as a three-star recruit by 247sports.com, made his only visit to Bloomington on June 10 when he participated in Coach Wilson’s football camp .

Fewer than 24 hours later, Griffith became the first 2013 commit.

“I’m trying to get kids to believe in IU football again and be a part of something special and be able to build something from the ground up,” Griffith said.

9) “The Movement” moves in (June 13)

The 2012 IU men’s basketball recruiting class officially became a part of Hoosier nation when Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, Ron Patterson and Jeremy Hollowell moved into the dorms and joined fellow 2012 commits Peter Jurkin and Hanner Parea in Bloomington.

Head Coach Tom Crean’s ability to draw the top talent in Indiana — four of the five are in-state — has set up IU for long-term success following the surprise run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2012.

The 2012 class is ranked No. 5 in the nation by Rivals.com.

8) Micah Johnson, Chad Martin drafted to MLB(June 5)

Once teammates, former IU second baseman Micah Johnson and former IU pitcher Chad Martin could one day face each other in the big leagues.

On June 6, Johnson was selected in the ninth round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Chicago White Sox. Twenty-three picks later, the Chicago Cubs used their 10th-round pick on Martin.

Johnson has fit in nicely with the White Sox’s rookie ball affiliate, the Great Falls Voyagers. Through 19 games with the Voyagers, Johnson is hitting .295 with one home run, five doubles and 10 RBI. He is 8-11 in stolen bases.

In limited action with the Cubs’ rookie ball affiliate, the Arizona League Cubs, Martin has surrendered three earned runs.

7) Mayhew wins Big Ten 10,000-meter title (May 11)

Indiana’s Zach Mayhew ran neck-and-neck with Wisconsin’s Elliot Krause for 9,700 meters of the men’s Big Ten Championship 10,000-meter run, hosted by the Badgers at the McClimon Complex in Madison, Wis.

Turns out speed trumps any form of home-field advantage.

Mayhew pulled away from Krause with 300 meters to go, securing the 10,000 Big Ten title and setting a McClimon Complex record with a time of 28:55.06.

The time was nearly 30 seconds better than the previous complex record and more than 4 seconds better than second-place Krause.

6) IU Baseball sweeps Bucs (May 17-19)

The 2012 IU baseball team won numerous games in come-from-behind fashion, but perhaps none were more dramatic than a 10-8 comeback victory against Ohio State May 17.

Down 8-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, IU scored six runs in the seventh and three in the eighth, eventually winning 10-8.

Two days later, IU capped the regular season  with its third comeback victory in four games, a 4-2 win. The Hoosiers completed a sweep of the Buckeyes and won their final game at Sembower Field.

5) Former Hoosiers punch their ticket to London (March-July)

Once representatives of IU, four former Hoosier athletes will be representing their respective home countries at the Olympic games.

Christina Loukas, a 2009 IU graduate, finished second in the senior women’s 3-meter springboard competition at the U.S. Olympic Team Diving Trials on June 25 to make it to London.

Former Hoosier swimmer Kate Fesenko qualified for the Olympics in late June and will represent Ukraine for the third time.

Recent graduate Margaux Farrell will swim in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay for France after qualifying in late March.

Graduate Kayla Bashore-Smedley, who lead IU field hockey to its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, was named to the U.S. Olympic Field Hockey team for the second time on June 11.

4) IU avoids elimination with win over MSU (June 26)

With the sweep of Ohio State, IU entered the Big Ten Baseball Tournament on a roll, having won six straight games, 10 of its last 12 conference games, its last four conference series and 12 of its last 15 games overall.

After losing to Purdue in its second game of the tournament, IU needed to beat the Spartans for a second time in the tournament to avoid elimination.

Shortstop Michael Basil hit the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 11th, vaulting IU to a 4-3 win and setting up a rematch with the top-seeded Boilermakers.

Less than four hours later, Purdue ended IU’s season and secured a Big Ten Tournament title with a 6-5 win.

3) Andy Bayer wins 1,500-meter NCAA title (June 10)

In an incredibly tight finish, male Indiana Athlete of the Year Andy Bayer won the NCAA 1,500-meter title at the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

It was Bayer’s first NCAA title and made him the first outdoor champion from IU since 1993.

Bayer finished the race in 3:43.82, a mere .01 seconds ahead of Brigham Young University’s Miles Batty.

He capped the outdoor season by winning gold in the 5,000-meter Saturday at the North America, Central America, Caribbean Under-23 Championships in Mexico.

2) Current Hoosiers qualify for Olympics (June-July)

By the end of the first week of July, several current IU athletes had punched their ticket to the London Olympics.

Most recently, junior women’s soccer standout Orianica Velasquez was named to the Colombian National Team.

Sophomore Dorina Szekeres will swim the 200-meter backstroke for Hungary and senior Nicholas Schwab the 200-meter freestyle for the Dominican Republic.    

IU junior high jumper Derek Drouin made the Canadian National team on June 30 by clearing 2.31 meters at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Calgary, Alberta.

In the process, Drouin became the first Hoosier high jumper to qualify for the Olympics. 

1) Men’s tennis wins first NCAA tourney game since 2000 (May 11)

With its 4-2 victory against Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, IU men’s tennis ended a 12-year tournament victory drought and set the program record for wins in a season with 24.

After seizing an initial 3-0 lead, IU struggled to find the clinching point until sophomore Dimitrije Tasic completed a huge second-set comeback at the sixth-singles position.

After winning the first set 6-4 against the Cardinals’ Luis Elizondo, Tasic found himself down 5-1 in the second set of a match that looked destined for a decisive third set.

But he dug deep and took five of the last six games from Elizondo, forcing a second-set tiebreaker.

Tasic then won the match-clinching tiebreaker 8-6. For the team’s seniors, it was their first win against Louisville after four years of losses.

In the second round, Kentucky ended IU’s season with a 4-0 win.