The Hoosiers competed in Michigan this weekend for the Power 5 Invitational expecting to face tough competition.
However, IU Coach Ron Helmer said the team was mostly disappointed at the turnout.
“It's always a mixed bag, but it wasn’t as much competition as we were hoping it would be,” Helmer said.
With the disappointment in competition, many Hoosiers were able to reach high marks, such as sophomore William Sessions and All-American senior Daniel Kuhn, who took first place in the 60m hurdle and the 800m dash, respectively.
Sessions crossed the finish line in 7:87 seconds, which secures him at the No. 4 spot in the Big Ten. Kuhn set a new facility record in the Michigan Indoor Track by finishing the 800m dash in 1:49.93.
Junior Treyton Harris finished second in the men’s long jump with a mark of 7.44 meters and third in the men’s high jump with a mark of 2.10 meters.
Helmer said with the Big Ten Championship coming up in just a few weeks, it was important for the Hoosiers to face off against harder competition than they have been seeing this season.
That was not the case.
“I wish we would have had a little more competition to stir it up," Helmer said. "It's not that we didn't face some pretty good people, but we could've stayed home and run against ourselves."
Helmer mentions this lack of competition might be due the abundance of meets around the nation and how many times teams can get split up and sent to different meets.
“There are just so many meets these days, and people get so spread out,” Helmer said. “This meet sounded like a great idea, but for the most part the teams just did not line up their best people, which is disappointing, because we were going in there expecting to run against some high-level talent.”
As for the next step for the Hoosiers, being just weeks away from the Big Ten Championship, Helmer said as coaches they have to set their athletes up for success now more than ever.
“We have make some adjustments," Helmer said. "Adapt a little and put our athletes in the best positions going forward."
