Oct. 1, 2004
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - 11 was the magic number on the cross country course on Friday as both the Purdue men and women finished in 11th place at the Adidas Notre Dame Invitational. The event was run at the Burke Memorial Golf Course, with the men running 8K and the women 5K.
The Boilermaker men competed in the Gold division and placed 11th among 26 teams. Notre Dame won the team title with 85 points, compared to Purdue's 358.
Justin Stadt paced the Purdue men, finishing 40th in the individual standings with a time of 25:40 over the 8K course. Justin Gauthier was the second Boilermaker across the finish line, running a 67th-place 26:01. Purdue's third, fourth and fifth scoring runners were Eric Hammond (76th, 26:08), Zach Wilder (79th, 26:14) and Joshua Robinson (96th, 26:31).
In the women's Blue division, Purdue scored 316 points for an 11th-place finish. Stanford won the field of national elite squads with 34 points. The Boilermakers finished one spot, and one point, behind Big Ten foe Penn State.
Amber Ferner was the lead runner for the Purdue women, finishing 34th with a time of 17:36, a personal best at 5K. Ferner's prior best was a 17:46 run at the Indiana Intercollegiates in 2001. Lindsay Zinn finished second for Purdue with a time of 17:45, placing 45th overall.
Four other veteran Purdue women posted personal bests, led by Corrie Whisner's 74th-place 18:07. One second behind Whisner was Kara Lahey, with a personal-best 18:08 for a 76th-place showing. Kaleena Cappel finished 87th with a personal-best 18:16. Also running a 5K personal best was Rachel Kroll with a time of 18:43.
The Boilermaker harriers have off a week before returning to the course on Oct. 16 in Terre Haute, Ind., when they compete in the Pre-National Meet at Indiana State University.