The IU men’s track and field team has had a lingering problem since the early part of the season.
It seems junior Daniel Kuhn cannot run a race without breaking a record.
Prior to the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame this weekend, Kuhn had successfully broken a record, including back-to-back school records at the Gladstein Invitational and Indiana Relays, every week in the past three weeks.
Kuhn kept his record-breaking streak alive for another week as he won the 800-meter run with a time of 1:46.42. He broke the IU school record and the Meyo Invitational record while running the fastest 800-meter time in the NCAA so far this season.
“I mean, that’s four weeks and four school records, and he’s a great competitor,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “He’s a great talent. He’s about as tough as it is on race day, and he trusts what we are doing, so he’s not sitting around worrying.”
Junior Jordan Huntoon’s own performance in the 800-meter was overshadowed by Kuhn’s.
Huntoon finished third with a personal best time of 1:49.67. His time was good enough for eighth all time in school history.
In the 60-meter hurdles, IU had two finalists in freshman William Session and senior Adrian Mable.
In the finals, Mable finished ninth with Session close behind in 11th.
Helmer said he viewed the weekend as a mixed bag of results for his hurdlers and sprinters.
Moving forward, he said he hopes to improve the consistency of those athletes.
“In a couple of spots they took steps forward, and in other spots they didn’t,” Helmer said. “That’s where we are right now and we just need to keep working and getting better.”
Senior Jason Crist finished second in the 3000-meter run.
His time of 8:02.48 is a top-15 time in the nation.
Sophomores Willie Morrison and David Schall finished second and fourth in the shot put, respectively.
Morrison had a distance of 19.29 meters while Schall had a distance of 18.22 meters.
Overall, Helmer said he was proud of the personal records his team members set during the weekend.
With IU preparing for the Hoosier Hills Invitational in Bloomington next weekend, Helmer said he hopes his team will perform equally as well as in the Meyo Invitational.
“It’s a pretty good feeling when you go to that meet and the announcer spends a whole lot of time talking about IU,” Helmer said. “We competed very hard in most places, and people took notice. Overall it was a very, very positive weekend for us.
