IU Coach Ron Helmer’s expectation heading into this weekend’s Tiger Track Classic at Auburn was for his team to continue improving and to have athletes continue to step up like he had seen the first few weeks of the season.
He said the expectation was met, but perhaps not to the extent he would’ve liked.
“It happened in some spots,” Helmer said. “Probably not in as many spots as I would’ve liked to have seen. But certainly, it did start to happen in a number of areas. Maybe not, incrementally, quite as big of a way as I had hoped, but I definitely saw improvement in a number of places.”
On Friday, junior thrower Nakel McClinton set a school record and a personal record in the hammer throw with a 64.23 meter throw. She finished fourth in the event.
McClinton broke the record senior Laura Schroeder, McClinton’s roommate, set two weeks ago at the Pac 12 vs. Big Ten Invitational. McClinton held the record heading into the season. Schroeder finished in fifth this weekend, just behind McClinton.
The coaching staff has taken note of the record-breaking trend forming between Schroeder and McClinton. Helmer said he was pleased both have responded positively to the challenge posed by each other.
“When we asked Coach Martin at Arizona State how he thought Nakel would respond to Laura breaking her record,” Helmer said, “What he said was ‘I think they’re going to trade it back and forth probably several times this year.’ And it looks like maybe that’s what’s going to happen.”
Two Hoosiers won their events Saturday. Junior Jeremy Coughler won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:04.21. Coughler was competing for the second weekend in a row, but this was his first time running the steeplechase this season.
Helmer said this performance should set Coughler up to take a bigger step forward the next time he runs the steeplechase.
Junior Madison Stenger won the women’s 1,500-meter run in a race IU dominated. Stenger posted a season-best 4:29.61. The Hoosiers took the top three finishes in that race and four of the top five finishes.
Senior Brianna Johnson finished second, sophomore Corinne Cominator finished third and freshman Haley Harris finished fifth.
Freshman Markevious Roach and sophomore Daniel Kuhn both set new personal records in the men’s 400-meter dash. Roach finished in seventh in 47.32 seconds, and Kuhn finished in eighth in 47.50 seconds.
Senior Dylan Anderson tied for fourth in the pole vault, vaulting 5.05 meters. Helmer said there weren’t a lot of people vaulting well on Saturday, which made Anderson’s performance stand out more to him.
Helmer said he was pleased with freshman Taylor Williams’ performance in the women’s 400 meter. She finished 12th in 55.31 seconds, a personal best. Sophomore Kendell Wiles set a personal best in the 800-meter run with a 2:10.53, which landed her in 10th place.
Senior Sophie Gutermuth failed to clear a height for the second consecutive week in the pole vault. Senior Sydney Clute was able to avoid the same fate, tying for sixth place with a 4.00-meter vault.
