IU men’s track and field had some strong performances during the weekend as the team prepared for the end of its outdoor season.
Purdue was host to the Rankin/Poehlein Invitational, which also featured athletes from Wabash.
IU Coach Ron Helmer said he wasn’t worried about the final score of the meet, so instead he focused on improving and developing some of his athletes.
“The intent was we could go compete, not overwork anybody, tune some people up, give some guys a weekend off and get a few qualifiers out of it,” Helmer said.
Helmer said the weather didn’t cooperate well, but despite the chilly temperature and mild winds, IU was still able to find a way to progress in some aspects.
The Hoosiers finished the weekend with several notable marks, including a new school record set by sophomore Willie Morrison. The shot-put sensation broke his own record he set a few a weeks ago with a throw of 19.55 meters.
Fellow sophomore David Schall finished two spots behind Morrison in third. Schall also took second place in the discus throw with a final distance of 52.67 meters.
“I think these two guys are really continuing to grow,” Helmer said. “They both have added the discus recently, and as a team we need that to be a quality event for them in the future.”
The Hoosiers had another victory in the field as junior Andrew Huber won the pole vault competition. He also took third in the javelin throw behind sophomore teammate, Drew Ludwig, who finished second.
The hurdlers for IU earned a pair of second and third place finishes in their events. Freshman William Session finished just a half second faster than senior Adrian Mable in the 110-meter hurdles. In the 400-meter hurdles, junior Zach Reitzug crossed just before senior Disquis Manley.
“Zach had a really good performance,” Helmer said. “His time was close to his all-time best and will certainly be good enough to get him in the first round of the national meet.”
Similar to the January dual meet against Purdue this past indoor season, IU dominated the distance and middle-distance events. Junior Joe Murphy and senior Jason Crist claimed the top two spots in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
“Joe ran in his first ever steeplechase and it was probably the fastest time I’ve ever seen someone run on their initial attempt in this race,” Helmer said. “He was able to come out in a low-key environment where he didn’t have to overexert himself in his first race.”
In the 1,500-meter run, the Hoosiers had an all-Kyle sweep in the top three spots. Freshman Kyle Mau led the way with a time of 3:49.51. Juniors Kyle DuVall and Kyle Burks finished in second and third, respectively.
Due to the fact that IU didn’t treat this weekend as a typical meet, Helmer said some people will criticize how he approached it but it was ultimately the right decision for his team.
“If it was January, and we were in full training mode, we would have doubled people in events, lined everyone up and would have tried to score as many points as we could,” Helmer said.
Helmer said he is always looking for ways to help better his team. This meet set his team up for the final important weeks of the season. Helmer also works on setting the Hoosiers up to be successful beyond this year.
“We have four freshmen who are currently redshirting and just focusing on training,” Helmer said. “We do that a lot with our distance and middle distance guys to allow them to develop and to be ready to compete in the next go around.”
Freshman Ben Veatch is one of the Hoosiers who is redshirting this season. This weekend he traveled to Ohio and won the mile run as an individual at the Jesse Owens Track Classic. His time of 4:05.32 would be good enough to rank top-10 in the NCAA this outdoor season.
