During the IU Relays in Bloomington this past weekend, IU faced new opponents and had yet another successful performance as four Hoosiers posted career-best performances.
With the first month of the season now complete, IU Coach Ron Helmer said he expects his athletes to improve even more going forward.
“We need to continue to make improvements,” Helmer said. “As we move into February and the most important part of our season the expectation is that everybody should improve and put marks on the board better than they have all year long.”
In the 60-meter dash this weekend freshman Megan Grabowski took first place with a time of 7.51 to set her new personal record and the fifth fastest time in school history.
In the final 100 meters of the mile event, junior Corinne Cominator and teammate sophomore Maggie Allen were neck-and-neck for first place. Cominator took the win by just .02 seconds and secured a new personal record at 4:49.35. Allen finished with a time of 4:49.37 and both are now ranked in the top 50 nationally.
The Hoosiers were able to sweep the 600-meter event. Junior Kendell Wiles took first and was followed by Mackenzie Bollinger, who ran a new career best. Freshman Mallory Mulzer came in third.
On the field junior Rachel Mather improved her personal record in the high jump event with a height of 1.73 meters. In the long jump senior Ari Nelson took second with a jump of 5.85 meters, and sophomore Aaliyah Armstead clinched third with a jump of 5.76 meters.
Before IU track and field heads to the Big Ten Championship in Geneva, Ohio, the team will travel this weekend for the first time. Even thought it is a short distance to South Bend, Indiana,for the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame, IU will be in a new environment for the first time this season.
“We are getting to that time of the year where performances matter more and more, so whether we are at home or we are in a new environment, it shouldn’t matter,” Helmer said. “They should just go out and compete really, really hard.”
Even with all the success the Hoosiers have had so far, the team is approaching the most important time of the season, and as Helmer explained, this is where the team’s success really matters. The team now has only three weeks to make final adjustments before heading to the conference championships.
“Some athletes are ready right now to go in and compete really well in the Big Ten Championship and others are really close,” Helmer said. “It’s just a matter of continuing to do what we do. It’s high on their list of priorities, and I suspect that in the next few weeks we are going to see them in a really good place going into the Big Ten Championship.”
