April 9, 2005
BERKELEY, Calif. - Purdue completed its stay at the Cal-Berkeley Brutus Hamilton Invitational Saturday, collecting a number of top-three showings and NCAA regional qualifying marks. Winners for Purdue were senior Kenneth Baxter in the 200-meter dash and Keith Hopkins in the 110-meter hurdles.
"We had a real decent day, it was nice to see Kenny get that 21.06," said head coach Jack Warner. "The team had a number of high placers and individual winners, and that's what it's all about. The runners are moving faster by the week, and they're getting regional qualifying marks in the process so there's not much more they need to do than that."
Baxter, making his season debut in the 200, recorded a winning time of 21.06, which qualifies him for the NCAA Mideast Regional meet May 27 and 28 at Indiana. Baxter, a three-time All-American in the 200, was placed in lane seven of the first heat and led the enitre way, beating unattached racer Starr Roberts by .10 seconds. In third place was Idaho senior Patrick Ray, who recorded a time of 21.42.
Earlier in the day, Baxter, along with Alfred Woods, Frank Duong and Kern Woods registered a mark of 41.74 in the 4x100 relay, tying them for second with Community College of San Francisco. Purdue held second for most of the race, but CCSF's Aaron Straiten was able to catch Woods on the final leg.
Hopkins captured Purdue's first victory of the afternoon, winning the 110-meter hurdles in 14.26. Hopkins had qualified sixth in prelims with a time of 14.61, but took over the race near the halfway point and beat runner-up Craig Gallimore of Cal by .15 seconds. Kern Woods was third with a season-best time of 14.48. Boilermaker sophomore Rickey Pinkney, who qualified second with a time of 14.39, was disqualified due to a false start.
Purdue's 4x100 relay team of Leah Kincaid, LaShauna Harris, Gina Harvey and Lindsey Singleton posted a second-place time of 47.14, finishing behind Cal's team, which clocked a time of 45.45. Minutes after the relay, Kincaid edged Harris for third place in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, 13.96. to 13.98, as both Boilermakers missed the NCAA regional qualifying time of 13.95 by just a few hundreths of a second. Kincaid's mark was a season best and a .09 second improvement over her prelim time of 14.05. Harris' prelim mark was clocked at 14.28.
Harris also was active in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. She was fifth in the 100 at 12.57 and was first in her 200 heat (third overall) with a season-best mark of 24.33.
The women's 4x400 relay team closed the meet with a runner-up time of 3:46.18. The quartet of Gina Harvey, Angela Anoliefoh, Kincaid and Ashley Kemp led the race for most of the way, but were passed by Iowa State's Jennifer Momberg on the homestretch. The Cyclone's winning time was clocked at 3:44.80.
Freshman Kara Patterson made her mark in the Purdue record book, posting the second best javelin throw in school of 52.09 meters (170 feet-11 inches). The newcomer is second only to 2002 national champion Serene Ross, who owns the varsity record of 60.06 (197-0). Air Force's Dana Pounds, the nation's top ranked javelin thrower, won the event with an effort of 52.79 (173-2), and fourth-ranked Jenna Dean of Washington State was sixth at 45.87 (150-06).
"Kara's a really good athlete, so I had a feeling she would throw that far," said javelin coach Rodney Zuyderwyk. "If she keeps improving on her technique like she did today, the throws will come, and she stands a good chance of placing among the top five at nationals if she can reproduce today's throw."
Elsewhere in the field, Derek Watkins tied for second in the high jump with Cal freshman Ed Wright with a height of 2.05 (6-8 3/4) and Jocelyn Lindsay tied her season best with a regional qualifying leap of 3.80 (12.5 1/2), giving her fifth place. Kern Woods was fourth in the long jump with a distance of 6.88 (22-7) and Laura Stier posted a season best height of 1.67 (5-5 3/4) in the high jump.
Sheena James was Purdue's highest placer in the shot put, recording a third-place and NCAA regional qualifying mark of 14.42 (47-3 3/4). Unattached competitor Dana Lawson was the winner with an effort of 15.71 (51-6 1/2) and Cal freshman Missy Fobus was second at 15.11 (49-7).
Purdue competes again next weekend at the Indiana State Invitational (April 15 and 16), which will be a scored meet. The Boilermakers return to Rankin and Track and Field on April 23 for the Indiana Intercollegiates, another scored meet which will also serve as the home season finale for Purdue.