Indiana University Athletics
B1G Weekend Ahead for Track & Field
2/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Feb. 22, 2012
Meet Notes 
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The Big Ten Indoor Championships will feature a combined men's and women's meet for the first time in history this weekend, as the conference descends on Lincoln, Neb., where the Nebraska Cornhuskers will host their first Big Ten Championship in any sport. The meet kicks off the championship schedule for IU Track and Field. Big Ten Network will broadcast the meet via tape delay at Noon on Saturday, March 10.
The Indiana men are in pursuit of the first Big Ten Indoor title since 1992 and the 16th indoor title in school history. The Hoosiers finished second at the meet in 2011. Indiana comes into the meet with the second-highest national ranking amongst men's teams in the Big Ten at No. 11, but Minnesota is ranked highest at No. 8 and a total of five men's teams in the Big Ten are ranked among the nation's top 25.
The Indiana women will pursue the fourth Big Ten Indoor title in school history and the first since 2000. The Hoosiers took fifth at the meet in 2011.
LAST TIME OUT
Indiana split up for the first time on the season with IU's distance and middle distance crew running at home in the Hoosier Hills Invitational and the sprinters and field event athletes heading to Geneva, Ohio for the SPIRE NCAA DI Invitational. The Hoosiers posted huge marks at both meets
The Hoosier quartet of De'Sean Turner, Chris Vaughn, Danny Stockberger and Andy Bayer combined for a world-leading time of 9:29.12 in the distance medley relay at Hoosier Hills. The time is tied for the fifth fastest on the all-time world indoor list, the third fastest all-time indoors by an group of Americans, and tied for fourth fastest in indoor collegiate history.
Kind Butler won the 200m in 20.85 at SPIRE, posting a meet record and the third-best time in Division I this season. An improvement of .08 on his career best, the time puts him second in IU history and within .04 of the IU record held by Olympian David Neville.
Butler the 60m finals in 6.68 seconds, taking the lead in the Big Ten this season and moving into a tie for 15th nationally. Butler is within .01 of his career best, which is the IU record.
In Bloomington, Ben Hubers clocked a time of 7:52.02 to get under the NCAA Auto standard of 7:52.30. With the time, Hubers moves into third in IU history in the event.
Darius King took the win in the high jump in Ohio with a 1.5 inch improvement on his career mark. King cleared 2.18m (7-1.75) on his first attempt. The clearance is good for fifth in IU history.
Ryan Hindes ran a time of 1:49.59 in the 800 for seventh place at the SPIRE Invite. The time is tied for the second-fastest in IU history. Hindes time is .01 out of the school record and ranks sixth in the Big Ten this season.
ONE OF A KIND
Kind Butler has opened the 2012 campaign with a flurry of blazing fast times. At the SPIRE NCAA DI Invite, Butler made a statement knocking off the reigning NCAA champion in the 200 meters, Maurice Mitchell of Florida State, and doing it while running away. Butler's time of 20.85 was .34 seconds faster than Mitchell who took third in the race and was .17 faster than Horatio Williams of FSU, who was second in the 200 at NCAA Outdoors in 2011. Butler leads the Big Ten with the time and is third in Division I. He is now within .04 of the IU record held by Olympian David Neville.
He also won the 60m dash at the SPIRE Invite, clocking a Big Ten best time of 6.68. Butler's time is just .01 off of his career best which is the IU record in the event.
His time of 6.27 seconds to win the 55 at the Hoosier Open is the sixth fastest in school history and is the fastest 55m time in the country on the season.
In the 300, Butler finished in a school record 33.57 at the Hoosier Open. Butler bettered the previous record of 33.87 by IU legend and Olympian Albert Robinson. Butler's time is the second-fastest 300 in Division I this season.
Butler has a led a resurgence of the Indiana sprints program over the past two years. He won IU's first Big Ten title in the 60 meters since 1992 and became IU's first All-American in the 200 since 2004 during the 2011 indoor campaign, and then outdoors he led the Hoosiers to the first All-America finish in the 4x100 since 1971 and came within .01 seconds of the IU record in the 100 meters.
TEDDY IS READY TO RUN
Andy Bayer completed a planned redshirt in the 2011 outdoor season after a historic indoor campaign. The junior trained at a high-level all spring and suffered a setback in May with a fracture in his foot. The road back has included an All-American finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, leading IU to a seventh-place finish, and NCAA Automatic qualifications in the 3,000 meters and the distance medley relay this season. Nicknamed "Ted" by his teammates because he was one of four Andrews on the distance crew upon his arrival, the "Teddy" Bayer, moniker stuck.
This indoor season, Bayer has shown that he is back to full strength, running sub-eight in the 3,000m twice and 3:58 in the mile. He is automatically qualified for NCAAs in the 3K and distance medley relay and ranks 11th nationally in the mile. Entering the Big Ten Championships, Bayer is the top seed in the 3,000 meters and has the second-fastest mile in the conference this year.
ONCE THE ROOKIE, NOW THE VETERAN
Kelsie Ahbe came to Indiana in 2009-10 as a two-time state champion pole vaulter from Ohio, but with a pair of NCAA Championship-tested jumpers (Vera Neuenswander and Stephanie Chin) in the program to train with and learn from. Two years later, she is a returning All-American, and four freshmen will look to her for the lead on the pole vault runway. Indiana has had great successes in the women's pole vault since Jake Wiseman took over the group in 2005.
In 2011, Ahbe took second at Big Tens during the indoor and outdoor seasons and added a sixth-place finish outdoors for her first All-America certificate. She and Vera Neuenswander went 1-2 at the outdoor Big Ten meet. This after she took 14th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and second at Big Tens as a freshman in 2010.
This season, four freshmen enter the program in the women's pole vault, and they are a heralded group. All four jumpers cleared 3.81m (12-6) or better in high school, a mark that was Ahbe's PR when she arrived in Bloomington. It should be an intriguing season on the pole vault runway for IU. Sophie Gutermuth has already shown she is ready to compete with the best in the Big Ten, as she cleared 3.85m (12-7.5) to win against Purdue.
Ahbe showed at the Meyo Invitational that she is ready to step into a bigger pair of shoes, winning the pole vault with a clearance of 4.21m (13-9.75). The mark moves her past Neuenswander in the IU record books as the IU indoor record holder in the pole vault. She is third on the Big Ten list this season and ranks 17th on the national list.
CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
Monique Riddick had a breakout year in 2011, but unless you were a hardcore fan of the throws, you might not have noticed. Overshadowed by Faith Sherrill's standout senior season, Riddick posted similar numbers in the shot put in her junior season to what Sherrill did in her junior season, making Riddick an under the radar performer this year with the potential to surprise people in 2012.
Riddick, a transfer to Indiana in 2010 from Montclair State, won three NCAA Division III titles in the shot put before arriving in Bloomington. Riddick posted an indoor best of 16.66m (54-8) in 2011 and advanced to the NCAA Championships during the indoor and outdoor campaigns. In comparison, Sherrill finished her junior indoor season at 16.80m (55-1.5).
A standout at Bishop Ahr in New Jersey, Riddick wasn't heavily recruited out of high school, mostly because of her height. The senior has proved people wrong as a collegiate thrower, and with her work ethic and strong finish to throws, she has blossomed under Indiana's throws coach Jermaine Jones. After winning her third NCAA title at Montclair State, head coach Aubrey Lewis told Riddick that she should look to transfer if she wanted to reach her full potential as a thrower. In the recruiting process, Riddick chose Indiana because of Jones's successes with another short thrower, Tiffany Howard. Howard was an All-American and Big Ten Champion at Indiana.
Riddick had her first big throw of the year at the Indiana Relays, launching a throw of 16.21m (53-2.25) ranks third in the Big Ten and 21st nationally. She also PRed in the weight throw with a heave of 18.85m (61-10.25), which ranks fifth in IU history.
REPLACING A CHAMPION WITH A KING
Coming into the indoor season, Ron Helmer was forced to admit that he wouldn't have his customary near-automatic 10 point cushion with Derek Drouin entered into the high jump. The five-time Big Ten champion is redshirting this season as he comes back from a foot injury, suffered in March, 2011.
But Helmer might be pleasantly surprised when he looks at the Big Ten descending order list heading into the Big Ten meet, as sophomore Darius King, third at Big Tens a year ago, is tied for the conference lead in the high jump.
King took the win in the high jump at the SPIRE NCAA DI Invite with a 1.5 inch improvement on his career mark. King cleared 2.18m (7-1.75) on his first attempt and was clean on his first five jumps of the meet before going out at 2.21m. The clearance is good for fifth in IU history, ties him for the Big Ten lead and ties him for 19th in Div. I this season.
BEN RUNNING ... WELL
Ben Hubers locked in his spot at NCAAs with an NCAA Automatic time in the 3,000 meters on day two at the Hoosier Hills. Hubers clocked a time of 7:52.02 to get under the NCAA Auto standard of 7:52.30. With the time, Hubers moved into third in IU history in the event. He joins teammate Andy Bayer as an automatic qualifier in the 3,000 meters and trails only Bayer in the Big Ten this season, ranking 12th in Division I this year.
At the Indiana Relays, Hubers narrowly missed out on breaking the four-minute barrier in the mile. His time of 4:00.78 is the second trip of his career under 4:01 without breaking four. He ranks sixth in the Big Ten this year and is the reigning Big Ten 1,500m champion outdoors.
HINDES' SIGHT IS .21/20
Ryan Hindes is truly having a breakout campaign in 2012. In his last three meets, the senior has run historic times in the 500 meters, 600 meters and 800 meters. In fact, if he had run those three events a combined .21 seconds faster, he would own IU records in all three.
Hindes ran a time of 1:49.59 in the 800 for seventh place at the SPIRE DI Invitational. The time is tied for the second-fastest in IU history. Hindes' time is .01 out of the school record and ranks 10th in the Big Ten this season.
At the Indiana Relays, Hindes made history in the 600m, staking his claim among the Big Ten's best in the event with a time of 1:18.75. He ranks sixth in the Big Ten and ninth in Division I this season. His time is the second-fastest in IU history, just .05 off the record held by Rodney Hollis.
And, at the Meyo Invitational, Hindes clocked a time of 1:03.23 for second place in the 500. His time is the best by a Hoosier at 500 meters since 1987, when Roger Hunter ran the school record of 1:03.07.
DISTANCE MEDLEY
The men's distance medley relay invitational was anticipated as the most exciting race on day one at the Hoosier Hills Invitational, and it did not disappoint, as Indiana's group of De'Sean Turner, Chris Vaughn, Daniel Stockberger and Andy Bayer ran the fifth-fastest time ever recorded indoors.
The Hoosier quartet combined for a world-leading time of 9:29.12. The time is tied for the fifth fastest on the all-time world indoor list, the third fastest all-time indoors by an group of Americans, and tied for fourth fastest in indoor collegiate history. Turner set the race up, splitting 2:54.3 on the leadoff 1,200m-long leg. He handed off to Vaughn who ran a split of 46.9 on the 400m leg and handed off to Stockberger, who went 800m in 1:51.0. Bayer brought the baton home in 3:56.9 on the 1,600m anchor leg.
Players Mentioned
