Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Head to B1G/SEC Challenge
3/21/2012 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
March 21, 2012
The outdoor season begins this Friday for Indiana Track and Field as they visit Mississippi State for the Big Ten/SEC Challenge. The Hoosiers will compete at the meet for the second consecutive year, and will be joined by Big Ten teams Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue and Ohio State and SEC teams Missississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
The meet marks the return of several Hoosiers from redshirt campaigns, including All-Americans Joe Holahan and Andy Weatherford and three-time NCAA Champion Derek Drouin. Drouin returns after suffering a foot injury at this meet in 2011. Drouin earned Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors for his performance before the injury at the meet. On the women's side, NCAA Qualifiers Arianne Raby (indoors in 2010) and Samantha Ginther (cross country in 2011) don the cream and crimson after sitting out the indoor season.
LAST TIME OUT
Indiana's men's track and field team finished sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships with 25 points, finishing just two points out of the top five and as the top team from the Big Ten. Sophomore Darius King finished tied for second in the men's high jump and the men's distance medley relay also took second to lead the way for IU.
King cleared a career-best 2.23m (7-3.75) to tie for second place in the high jump in the first national meet of his career. The clearance ranks third in IU history. The sophomore caps his season with an NCAA Runner-Up finish to go along with his Big Ten title.
In the DMR, the Hoosiers took second place for the second straight year, clocking a time of 9:35.67 and finishing just .19 out of the win. The Hoosiers got a mile anchor of 3:58.87 from Andy Bayer as he moved from sixth to second with the baton.
Butler took fourth in the finals of the 200 in a time of 20.78, becoming IU's best ever NCAA finisher in the event. He clocked a time of 20.77 in the prelims, and both of his times on the day bettered the IU record that was held by Olympic Gold Medalist David Neville. Butler also ran the 60 meters on the day, clocking a time of 6.68 to finish 19th. The time is just .01 off his own IU record at that distance.
Bayer took fifth in the mile, clocking a time of 4:02.13, which was less than half a second out of the win. The junior is IU's first All-American in the event since Sean and John Jefferson were second and seventh in 2005.
The 4x400m relay team of Chris Vaughn, Nick Stoner, Ryan Hindes and Kind Butler took eighth place with a time of 3:10.75. IU earns All-America honors in the event for the first time since 1988 and the fourth time in school history.
Bayer also finished the 3,000m in 15th place. Ben Hubers finished 14th in the 3K with a time of 8:13.74. Bayer finished in 8:16.95. Both were named second-team All-America.
In the triple jump, Olu Olamigoke finished 13th with a mark of 15.56m (51-0.75). Andrew Poore ran in the men's 5,000 meters, taking 14th place. He finished in 14.20.63. Poore and Olamigoke each earned second-team All-America honors.
Players Mentioned
