Drouin, Bayer to return for Indiana Relays

The stars will be out this Friday and Saturday as IU men’s and women’s track and field teams prepare for the Indiana Relays at Gladstein Fieldhouse.

Seniors Andy Bayer and Derek Drouin will return to the track after skipping last weekend’s meet and will compete in some of their primary events. Bayer will run the mile and Drouin will compete in the high jump.

Saturday’s high jump invitational will be the first real glimpse for IU fans at Drouin competing in the event since he won Olympic bronze in London. Despite the late start, Drouin said he has started even later in previous years.

“It still feels a little bit early for me, but I’m excited to hopefully get a mark in and hopefully qualify for NCAA’s,” Drouin said. “I’m eager to get back into it. I’ve been doing a couple different events, which I like, but it’s nice to go back to your specialty.”

IU Coach Ron Helmer said Drouin is a natural competitor who wants to compete instead of taking the extra time to train.

“Derek takes the mindset that every meet is a competitive opportunity,” Helmer said. “And we don’t want to waste those. Meets are a great opportunity to prepare and to train and gain fitness and we want to take advantage of them.”

With more than 30 teams expected to attend, including Notre Dame, Illinois and Alabama, there will not be a shortage of talent to challenge the Hoosiers. Helmer said the meet should be similar to the Gladstein Invitational in both size and how he approaches the meet strategically.

“In a couple cases we’re trying to put some really good marks on the board,” Helmer said. “In other cases we’re trying to get in back-to-back days of hard work to practice what it’s like at Big Tens or NCAAs.”

After the meet last weekend, Helmer applauded the performances of several unheralded Hoosiers who he said have really stepped up early this year.

“We want that group to prove that last week was no fluke,” Helmer said. “And then we need to find the next handful of people ready to stand up and show they’re getting in the right mind for that kind of challenge.”

One athlete looking to take that next step is graduate student Lance Roller, competing in the 600-meter invitational. The last time Roller stepped onto the track for this race, he challenged the school record, eventually finishing second all-time in school history. This time, Helmer said Roller is eyeing the top spot in the record book.

Another senior leader for IU in the past few weeks has been Kelsey Duerksen. The two-time Big Ten Track Athlete of the week has turned in dependable races all season and will look to add another when she lines up for the mile on Friday night.

Despite the several expectations Helmer listed for the Indiana Relays, he said he felt they were justified.

“When you put good, prepared athletes out there in situations where you expect good things to happen, then we get a little jump start on the rest of the conference,” Helmer said. “And that’s never a bad thing.”