Feb. 6, 2004
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Pole vaulters Jocelyn Lindsay and John Porter were two of four Purdue winners during Friday's first day of competition at the Indiana Invitational. The Boilermakers also received wins from Tiffany Colvin and Laura Farley, as well as a third-place showing from Kaleena Cappel in the 3,000-meter run.
Lindsay won the pole vault title with a season-best flight of 12 feet -7 1/2 inches (3.85 meters), while Porter hit a top height of 15-5 (4.70); Colvin won the high jump with a leap of 5-6 1/2 (1.69).
Farley, who won the prelims of the mile run in 5:11.99, will return for Saturday's finals along with T'Nita Waters (60m), Gina Harvey (400m), Caitlin Baird (mile), Larrissa Williams (mile), Kelly Van Abeele and Corrie Whisner (800m). Three Boilermaker male athletes advanced to day two: Jon Hoggatt (800), Kern Woods (long jump) and J.P. Smolenski (weight throw).
Van Abeele in the 800, along with Baird and Farley in the mile run, have put themselves in good shape to win their events outright, after finishing at or near the top of the prelim round. Baird placed behind Farley in the mile, while Van Abeele finished second in her race with a time of 2:15.95. Waters placed sixth in the 60-meter dash prelims and jumped to fourth in the semifinals with a 7.61.
Lindsey Singleton and Jan Eichenauer finished third and fourth in the pentathlon. Singleton scored 3,374 points, while Eichenauer tallied 3,322 points. A majority of Eichenauer's points were earned from a first-place throw in the shot put (37-5).
In addition to the Indiana Invitational, Purdue sent several of its -athletes to compete at the Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. NCAA qualifier Keith McBride, sprinter Kenneth Baxter and distance runner Lindsay Zinn are among the dozen or so Boilermakers who begin competing Saturday at 10 a.m.
The University of Nebraska is providing live results of the meet through its athletics web site, www.huskers.com.
The Husker Invitational, which started Friday with the men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon, features competitors from a number of ranked schools, including Georgia, Florida State and Tennessee.