After suffering its first loss in the five-year series — the men lost 70-65 and the women lost 72-64 last year — the IU track team will try to regain dominance in the in-state rivalry.
IU Coach Ron Helmer believes the team with the most depth at each event will take the crown as the divided-state champion.
“There are events that Purdue will win, and there are events that we will win,” he said. “The great athletes find ways to win their events.”
The pattern was evident in last year’s IU-Purdue dual, where Purdue’s men claimed at least two of the top three spots in seven events. IU’s men took just six events and lost a tightly-scored meet.
“The second piece of it is that we need to win the relays,” Helmer said. “They are scored where you get five points if you win and zero points if you don’t, so that’s a huge swing.”
IU’s women know the importance of the relays all too well, as last year Purdue took at least two of the top three spots in six events.
IU claimed eight events, but with two victories in the all-important relays, the Boilermakers took home a ?close win.
Last year, junior Sophie Gutermuth claimed first place in the pole vault in the IU-Purdue dual and broke the IU women’s indoor record for highest vault at 4.22 meters (13 feet, 10 inches) at the Hoosier Open in ?December.
“Mainly what I’ve been telling myself since we started competing this year is to just continue what I do in practice,” Gutermuth said. “It seems to work better when I just focus on what I’ve been doing in practice instead of trying to clear a certain height.”
Senior Derrick Morgan will also be leaned on heavily by the IU men as he races Purdue’s top 400-meter sprinters, junior Kendal Frederick and senior Nicholas Parks, who took first and second places last week in the Gene Edmonds Cup.
With a personal record of 47.12 seconds, Morgan looks to have the advantage on his opposition, who have run just 49.44 seconds this season.
“I definitely made some strides in the offseason,” Morgan said. “And with Coach Beathea coming in, I think I’ll run a lot faster this season.
The Hoosiers will have their hands full in their first competitive meet of the calendar year. But Morgan said he believes if they keep up the competitive spirit they showed in their last intrasquad meet, they could match the Boilermakers on every level.
“The alumni like to see us win,” Helmer said. “But they really like to see us ?compete hard.”
