May 29, 2004
BATON ROUGE, La. - A day removed from being shut out at the NCAA Mideast Regionals, Purdue's women's track and field team rebounded to score in three events and finished 12th with 16 points. Leading the Boilermakers were Amber Ferner and Lindsay Blaine, who both posted top-five showings in their respective events.
Blaine, only a freshman, finished as the runner-up in the javelin with a throw of 158 feet, 9 inches (48.38 meters). Her effort on Saturday afternoon, which followed a bronze-medal showing at the Big Ten Championships, was her second best throw of the season. At the Texas Relays in April, Blaine's throw landed at the 162-0 mark.
Wrapping up the day in style for Purdue was West Lafayette native, Ferner, who placed third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Ferner's time of 10:15.21, was one of her best of the season, but it could not beat Briana Shook of Toldeo (9:55.98), nor Butler's Victoria Mitchell (10:13.31).
In between Ferner's and Blaine's NCAA automatic-qualifying finishes was Tiffany Britten's seventh-place effort in the shot put. Britten's top throw was measured at 51- 3/4 (15.56), which was just two feet short of finishing among the top five.
Britten and throwing collegue John Paul Smolenski are currently on the bubble waiting to see if they will receive an at-large bid to the national championships at the University of Texas in two weeks. Friday, Smolenski placed sixth in the hammer throw.
The Purdue men's team which was tied in first place at the end of Friday, slipped down to a tie for tenth (with Southern Mississippi at 23 points) after scoring no points on Saturday.
Purdue's 2004 national championship roster currently consists of Shaun Guice, Keith McBride, Scott Hecht and Blaine and Ferner. The Old Gold and Black quintet will begin competing at nationals June 9 to 12.