Hoosiers look sharp in final Big Ten event
In its final tune-up in preparation for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, the men's track team looked sharp in the Billy Hayes Invitational Friday night.
In its final tune-up in preparation for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, the men's track team looked sharp in the Billy Hayes Invitational Friday night.
Having the right balance of pitching and hitting is something the IU baseball team has been searching for all year. Saturday afternoon the Hoosiers had no problem finding it in a 15-2 win over Michigan State.
In its final tune-up in preparation for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, the men's track team looked sharp in the Billy Hayes Invitational Friday night. Highlighting the action were twin All-Americans John and Sean Jefferson in the 1,500 meters. The duo raced in a special section of the 1,500 devoted to fast times. The combination of cool weather and racing underneath the lights brought Jefferson near his personal best.
Having the right balance of pitching and hitting is something the IU baseball team has been searching for all year. Saturday afternoon the Hoosiers had no problem finding it in a 15-2 win over Michigan State. From the beginning, IU (23-22, Big Ten 6-15) didn't have any trouble with the Spartans (17-23, Big Ten 6-11).
The IU women's softball team will close out the 2005 season by travelling to West Lafayette 1 p.m. Saturday to face Purdue and then head back to Bloomington to face its archrivals again on Sunday.
The IU men's track team will close out the school year by hosting one of its only home meets of the season, the Billy Hayes Invitational, today at 4 p.m. The meet serves as final preparation for the Big Ten Championships, set for next weekend at Ohio State. Being only five weeks away from the NCAA Championships, IU has tapered down their training regimes.
While the rest of their classmates are attending commencement and graduation parties, IU senior golfers Jeff Overton and Heath Peters will be looking to cap off their careers in style at the Big Ten Championships at Wisconsin Friday through Sunday.
For more than 6,900 seniors Saturday, "Pomp and Circumstance" will be the most important song of the day. However, for the five seniors on the IU baseball squad, it's "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as the Hoosiers face off against Michigan State 3 p.m. Saturday at Sembower Field.
HOUSTON -- IU guard Bracey Wright signed with a sports agent Wednesday, effectively ending his college career, according to a broadcast report. Wright had announced last month that he would forgo his senior year of eligibility and declare for the NBA draft. But since he didn't initially sign with an agent, Wright preserved the chance to play another season for the Hoosiers.
IU climbed out of the gloomy basement of the Big Ten and into gleeful sixth place with 46 points and its best-ever finish at the Big Ten Championship on Bloomington's Lake Lemon Saturday. No. 7 Michigan State, trailing by eight points and in third place overall heading into the final race, won the conference crown with a first-place total of 130. No. 4 Ohio State came in second with 129 points and No. 14 Wisconsin recorded 106 points for third. No. 3 Michigan, the defending Big Ten champion, placed fourth with 103 points, while No. 15 Minnesota took fifth and No. 20 Iowa ended up seventh with 22 points.
Sunday was the second time this season the No. 10 IU water polo team faced Michigan in a post-season tournament championship game. It was the second time IU lost. Last weekend the Hoosiers lost the Collegiate Water Polo Association Division Tournament champion game to the Wolverines, 11-10 in overtime. This weekend, they lost in the CWPA Eastern Conference championship game to Michigan, 8-7.
In their season opener against Ohio State, the 22-21 Hoosiers were impressive. Junior center fielder Reggie Watson had four hits, accumulating two runs, one double and one stolen base. Senior right fielder Joe Kemp tallied three RBIs and his eighth home run of the season on two hits.
On a rainy weekend at America's most prestigious relay meet, the men's track team ignored the weather and put up solid performances across the board. In Thursday's collegiate shot put competition, junior Ryan Ketchum grabbed first place with a 17.97-meter heave, a near-season best.
In terms of collegiate men's tennis, it's hard to tell Hoosiers from Wildcats. The Hoosiers had a 12-11 record. The Wildcats were 11-11. The Hoosiers were the No. 4 seed. The Wildcats were the No. 5. IU won the first game in the series, 4-3 April 2. Friday, Northwestern had the last say in the even-keeled match up, besting the Hoosiers by their own 4-3 tally and potentially ending IU's team season.
Heading into the final weekend of preparation before the Big Ten Championship, coach Mike Mayer was looking for the men's golf team to finally pull all the pieces together to contend for a Big Ten Championship and a coveted NCAA berth.
Everything went in reverse this weekend in East Lansing, Mich., at the Big Ten tournament. And the Hoosiers' quarterfinal loss to No. 7 seed Michigan was no exception. Last week offered no indication of how the weekend would play out, as nearly every team that lost during that week managed to pull off a victory against the team that beat them.
Softball struggles against OSU, PSU After starting its road trip with a no-hitter last Tuesday versus Evansville, the IU softball team traveled east for four games against Ohio State and Penn State.
Junior Sarah Batty wasn't the typical 17-year-old. Batty, without even being a legal adult, first swung a tennis racket for IU almost three years ago -- only a month and a half removed from her 17th birthday. Three years ago she found herself, at her No. 2 singles spot, one year younger than her classmates and one ocean away from her native country. But she was, in more ways than one, in ready position.
Coming off a 16-2 thrashing of IU-Southeast on Wednesday, the IU baseball team packs its bags for a four-game set against Ohio State this weekend. So far this season, IU has established a dismal 4-12 record against the Big Ten. The Hoosiers have finished with one win and three losses in each of the last four conference series games they have played. The 20-14 Buckeyes are coming off a doubleheader sweep against Central Michigan. OSU has a Big Ten leading .971 fielding percentage and is second in the conference with a 3.80 ERA, despite its 4-9 Big Ten record and .290 team batting average.
HOUSTON -- Playing with the desperation of a team facing elimination, even though they weren't, the Dallas Mavericks clawed their way back into their first-round series against the Houston Rockets on Thursday night. It took a rejuvenated Dirk Nowitzki to save them in a 106-102 victory. Nowitzki emerged from a two-game slump to score 28 points and keyed a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter that deflated the Rockets in Game 3.