Jan. 24, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Senior All-American Keith McBride highlighted the Boilermakers' day at the Ohio State/Indiana/Purdue tri-meet, shattering the school record in the weight throw. McBride's effort of 22.04 meters broke Chris Brown's record of 21.93, which was established in February of 2001.
McBride's launch also automatically qualified him for an appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The native of Valparaiso, Ind., is the first Boilermaker this season to hit an NCAA 'A' standard.
Despite his record-breaking throw, McBride could not outdistance the nation's No. 1 thrower, Ohio State's Dan Taylor. The two-time Big Ten Track and Field Athlete of the Week is undefeated in both throwing events through three meets this season.
Taylor topped out at 22.49 in the weight throw and 19.83 in the shot put, edging Purdue's Nedzad Mulabegovic's push of 19.34. Mulabegovic's effort was .16 meters short of automatically qualifying him for the NCAA Championships; however, the native Croatian has two provisional marks under his belt.
Scott Hecht also shined in the throws, placing third in both. His push of 17.99 in the shot put was a season high.
Tiffany Britten and Courtney Magnuson were Purdue's top competitors in the shot and weight. Britten finished fourth in the shot with a season-best effort of 14.41, while Magnuson took third in the weight with her launch of 18.07. Magnuson's distance, a career high, ranks fifth on the Boilermakers' all-time performance list.
The performances of Purdue's throwing corps were not enough to place their teams atop the standings, as the men's and women's squads both placed third. The Boilermaker men, ranked sixth by Trackshark, finished with 82 points behind No. 8 Ohio State (124 points) and No. 22 Indiana (103 points).
The women's standings mirrored the men's, with Ohio State on top with 123 points. Indiana scored 112 points and Purdue tallied 80.
Although the tri-meet was Purdue's lone conference competition prior to the Big Ten Championships, head coach Lissa Olson doesn't expect these standings to hold over into February.
"We lacked depth in some areas, and that hurt us, but it won't be as glaring once we get to Big Tens because all 11 teams will be beating up on one another," said Olson. "Our strenghts will carry us at Big Tens, so it's important that we prevent letdowns in those areas while continuing to work on our weaknesses."
Kenneth Baxter led all Boilermakers with a pair of victories. The two-time All-American in the 200-meter dash scored a win in the 60-meter dash as well as in his signature event. Baxter began his day recording a new French Fieldhouse record in the 60, with his mark of 6.76 seconds. The old record of 6.85 seconds was recorded last year by Toledo's Xavier Darden.
Baxter became Purdue's first runner to hit an NCAA provisional mark after clocking a time of 21.63 seconds in the 200. His time was .02 seconds faster than the NCAA 'B' standard of 21.65.
Though not of the record-breaking variety, both Boilermaker teams received several encouraging performances from their newcomers . In the field, high jumper Brian Hoying improved on his 1.97 meter leap of a week ago, finishing second with a boost of 2.01 meters. Rookie pole vaulter John Porter also scored a second-place showing with a career-best effort of 4.85 meters.
The sophomore pole vault tandem of Jocelyn Lindsay and Megan Darraugh captured first and second places. Lindsay's winning leap of 3.80 was a career best by .14 meters, while Darraugh finished at 3.65.
On the track, Kern Woods and Dedrick Tillerson placed second and third in the 60-meter hurdles, while freshman Terrell Thompson held his own in the 800, placing second in 1:57.55.
The distance runners showed considerable improvement on last week's times from the Purdue Invitational, including Kaleena Cappel and Christan Bahler in the mile and Mike Ciccarelli in the 3,000. However, it was Lindsay Zinn who earned the Boilermakers' lone victory in the distance races.
Because of an injury suffered last season, Zinn's triumph in the 3,000 was her first in more than a year. She led the field to the finish line with a time of 9:51.52. Teammate Kara Lahey placed second at 9:56.21.
Complete results of the tri-meet can be found via www.deltatiming.com, by clicking on the OSU Three-Way link located on the front page.
Purdue will look to strike the win column when they play host to Indiana State on Friday night at Lambert Fieldhouse. The annual dual meet between intrastate rivals begins at 5 p.m.
The Edmonds Cup will be awarded to the winner of the Indiana State and Purdue dual. The cup, which is named for longtime USA Track and Field official and former Purdue women's coach Gene Edmonds, has been with the Boilermakers every year since its inception in 1996.