IU Track and Field closes home indoor season

The IU men’s and women’s track and field teams closed their home indoor seasons Friday and Saturday by hosting the Hoosier Hills Invitational.

The Hoosiers scored two big marks on Friday night.

The first was IU senior Derek Drouin taking sole possession of the collegiate lead in the high jump. His height of a 2.32-meter jump (7-foot 7.25-inch) also made him fourth in the world.

In the process, Drouin also broke the Gladstein Fieldhouse record of 2.31 meters, a mark that stood for 25 years after it was originally set by Mark Reed.

“It was pretty special to get [the record] in my last home meet,” Drouin said. “I was happy that I was able to take a shot at it and get it.”

Drouin took three attempts at 2.35 meters (7 feet 8.5 inches) and said despite not clearing the bar, he felt surprisingly good at that height and hopes to reach that height in championship season.

“Last season I had that added pressure of the Olympics on the horizon,” Drouin said. “So hopefully this year I can just go out and jump and be successful.”

The other big story from Friday came out of the distance medley relay race. The IU team of sophomore Rorey Hunter, sophomore Nick Stoner, graduate student Lance Rollerand senior Andy Bayer finished with a time of 9:33.43, the second best time in division one this season.

It was the first time the Hoosiers have run a DMR this season. A team of former IU indoor runners kept the pace in the event.

On the women’s side, the Hoosiers took victories on Friday in women’s pole vault, women’s 600-meter run and women’s shot put thanks to freshman Sydney Clute, sophomore Brie Roller and senior Kyla Buckley respectively.

IU Associate Head Coach Jeff Huntoon said he was impressed with how the women’s team performed at Hoosier Hills and that he’s looking forward to the Big Ten Indoor Championships.

“We’ve got a thrower in Taja Moore that nobody knows about and a jumper in Emma Kimoto that nobody knows about,” Huntoon said. “So hopefully we can surprise some people.”

The Hoosiers kept the momentum going Saturday, especially in the distance events.

Senior Zach Mayhew and Bayer took first and second in the men’s 3000-meter invitational run. Mayhew shed 11 seconds off his personal record and crossed the line in 7:51.61 to edge out Bayer’s 7:51.75. Their times were the best in the Big Ten and third and fourth best nationally.

In the women’s 3000-meter invitational, sophomore Samantha Ginther crossed the line at 9:20.02 to take the victory and the Big Ten lead. Her time was the fifth best in IU history.

Indiana will now take a weekend off before heading to Geneva, Ohio for the Big Ten Indoor Championship meet Feb. 22 to 23.

“We still have some things to tune up before we head into championship season,” Huntoon said. “But we’ve shown flashes of what we can do and hopefully we can get everybody some good marks.”