The IU men’s track and field team found plenty of success during the weekend by winning a total of nine events in two different invitationals.
Most of the first-place finishes occurred at Gladstein Fieldhouse at the Hoosier Hills Invitational on Friday, and several IU jumpers competed and won events in Arkansas as well.
In the shot put at the Hoosier Hills Invitational, sophomores David Schall and Willie Morrison placed first and second. Schall got the better of Morrison en route to a personal record throw of 18.80 meters.
“That was a huge PR,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “With over a foot better PR, I think that puts him at No. 16 in the country, which is pretty outstanding.”
Junior Andrew Miller won the weight throw with a distance of 20.10 meters after breaking the school record two weeks prior to the Hoosier Hills Invitational.
The Hoosiers had a pair of one-two finishes in both the 400-meter and 600-meter dashes. Sophomore Adam Wallace edged out senior Diquis Manley in the 600-meter with a time of 1:20.22, while sophomore Markevious Roach narrowly defeated freshman Caleb Ojennes in the 400-meter with a time of 48.72 seconds.
The team also captured victories in the 4x400-meter relay and the distance medley relay. The Hoosiers added their final two wins for the weekend at the Tyson Invitational in Arkansas.
Junior Paul Galas won the high jump on a tie breaker with a jump of 2.12 meters, while sophomore Eric Bethea set a new PR and won the triple jump with a distance of 16.34 meters. Helmer said Bethea’s performance was the most impressive .
“I think the biggest thing of the weekend for us was Eric down in Arkansas,” Helmer said. “If he went to the national meet and was able to duplicate that, I’m guessing he could be in the top three or four with no problem.”
Helmer said Bethea is among several others that have a strong chance to compete for points at the national championships. He said junior Daniel Kuhn and Morrison also have an opportunity to compete.
“The reason that Eric’s performance is such a big deal is that it gives us a good chance now,” Helmer said. “Next week we need to put a distance medley in the national meet and we will have four events that we have a chance to go in and score points in.”
The team will send a distance medley relay squad to South Bend, Indiana, this week for a chance to qualify for the national championships. The members selected to compete in this event were freshman Kyle Mau, junior Joe Murphy, Kuhn and Roach.
“There’s no margin for error,” Helmer said. “There are crazy good teams out there, and they will all be at Notre Dame chasing those marks.”
Junior Jordan Huntoon will also travel to compete in the 800-meter run, but everyone else will have the week off before the Big Ten championships. Helmer said the rest should help his team out and put them where they need to be before next weekend. Helmer also said he is happy to see improvement and his guys deserved a rest.
“We’ve had around 30 PRs within the last week,” Helmer said. “Some were better than others, but at least they are improving. All you can do is get better.”
