Feb. 12, 2005
AMES, IOWA - Veteran sprinter Kenneth Baxter proved he could still race against the best competition in America Friday night, winning the men's 200-meter dash at the Iowa State Track & Field Classic.
Baxter defeated fellow All-Americans Kyle Farmer (Florida) and Demi Omole (Wisconsin) at the finish line with a time of 21.11. Farmer was second at 21.15 and Omole placed third at 21.35.
Baxter is competing unattached at this meet since he is out of indoor eligibility. He will be eligble to compete for Purdue during the outdoor campaign.
Elsewhere on the track, both Amber Ferner and David Rae posted personal bests in the 5,000-meter run. Rae's time of 14:23.06 placed him ninth and is the fourth best mark in Purdue indoor history, surpassing the mark of 14:25.58 set by Todd Messer on Feb. 23, 1991.
Ferner also placed ninth at 17:09.11, shaving over 10 seconds off her previous record of 17:19.71.
In the field events, John Paul Smolenski also cracked into the Purdue indoor record book with a personal best launch of 19.11 meters (62 feet - 8 1/2 inches) in the weight throw.
Smolenski's NCAA provisional distance is the fifth best throw in school history. In fact, four of the top five weight throwers in school history have earned their record breaking marks under the tutelage of throws coach John Zera (Keith McBride, Scott Hecht, Igor Kirin, Smolenski).
For the women's team, Astin Steward placed among the top eight in the weight throw with her launch of 18.14 (59-6 1/4); Jocelyn Lindsay was second in the pole vault with a leap of 3.88 (12-8 3/4) and Leah Kincaid recorded a season best of 5.69 (18-8) in the long jump.
Saturday's events begin at 12:30 p.m. with the women's triple jump and will end at 8:40 p.m. with the men's 4x400-meter relay.
Results will be posted at the end of each day at cyclones.com approximately one hour after the conclusion of the last event.