The IU men’s and women’s track and field teams will open their 2017-18 indoor season with high expectations at the Hoosier Open at Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse in Bloomington.
IU Coach Ron Helmer and the Hoosiers are coming off a season in which the men’s team won its first Big Ten indoor title since 2012 and its 18th in program history.
IU won five events at the men’s Big Ten championships last season and many of those top performers will return for this season.
Juniors Willie Morrison finished first in shot put, Eric Bethea won the triple jump and Treyton Harris took first in the long jump. Meanwhile, senior Daniel Kuhn won the 600-meter run along with juniors Joe Murphy, Markevious Roach and sophomore Kyle Mau. The trio were a part of the championship-winning distance medley relay team. Mau is the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year in indoor track as well.
On the women’s side, the team is led by one of the nation’s top distance runners in junior Katherine Receveur. Last season, she became the first Hoosier female athlete to earn All-American honors in cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track all in the same year.
It remains to be seen how many of IU’s top performers will compete Friday as they are set to take on Purdue, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Tennessee, Butler, North Florida, NC State, Detroit, Bellarmine, Saint Louis and Eastern Kentucky.
In last year’s Hoosier Open, IU won eight events. Morrison broke the school record in the shot put, while Receveur broke the school record in the 5,000-meter run.
Murphy Wheeler
