Feb. 28, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker track and field teams opened their postseasons on Saturday with the first day of the 2004 Indoor Big Ten Championships. The women's championship is taking place at the University of Iowa, while the men are competing at the University of Michigan.
Reliable veterans Kenneth Baxter, Nedzad Mulabegovic and Scott Hecht provided some of the Boilermakers' top highlights. Baxter is the top-seed in Sunday's 60-meter dash finals after clocking a time of 6.75 in the semifinals. During the prelim session, Baxter was in fourth with a time of 6.84.
In the 200, Baxter continued his qualifying streak with a runner-up time of 21.64. Baxter finished behind NCAA provisional qualifier Mitch Potter of Minnesota, who clocked a time of 21.20.
Another highlight from the Michigan track was Kern Woods' sixth-place semifinal time of 8.13 in the 60 hurdles. Both Matt Simmons and Dedrick Tillerson just missed the cut, tying for ninth place at 8.34. Woods also scored in the long jump with his seventh-place leap of 22-feet, 11 3/4 inches.
Mulabegovic and Hecht provided the team with great throws in the shot put, but again could not get past their rival Ohio State's Dan Taylor. Taylor finished with a Michigan track record of 66 11-1/4, Mulabegovic finished runner-up at 63-10 1/2 and Hecht placed third at 61-9 1/2.
With five of 18 events scored, the Purdue men find themselves in fifth-place with 16 points. Wisconsin leads going into the final day of competition with 68 points; host Michigan is second with 25 points and Ohio State and Indiana each have 18 and are tied for third.
At the women's meet, freshman Lindsey Singleton made a statement with her sixth-place finish in the pentathlon; Singleton completed the five-event series with 3,495 points. The rookie scored a time of 9.06 in the 60 hurdles and a 2:29.84 in the 800. In the field, Singleton posted a height of 5-6 1/2 in the high jump, a leap of 15-11 in the long jump and an effort of 33-8 in the shot put. Her high jump leap placed her second in that competition.
Most of Purdue's women's points came from the field where Tiffany Britten brought shot put success to her meet, placing fourth with a launch of 49-7 1/4. In the pole vault, Jocelyn Lindsay and Megan Darraugh captured the fourth and sixth positions, both earning maximum leaps of 12-5 1/2.
On the Iowa track, T'Nita Waters is the sixth-seed in the 60, after finishing her prelim race in 7.57; in the 800 race, Laura Farley slipped into Sunday's final with an eighth-place time of 2:13.15. The distance medley relay team also secured eighth-place points with their time of 12:01.88.
The Purdue women find themselves in eighth place after one day with 16.5 points. Penn State and Wisconsin are atop the leaderboard with 37 and 35 points.
Competition resumes Sunday at 11 a.m. in Iowa and 9 a.m. in Michigan; all times are local. Live results of both meets can be accessed through www.BigTen.org.