Feb. 26, 2006
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MADISON, Wis. - The Boilermaker women's track and field team achieved their goal of getting out of the conference's basement, finishing eighth at this year's Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Purdue finished eighth with 49 points, nearly twice their 2005 total, ahead of Indiana and Michigan State.
Sophomore Leah Kincaid (Springfield, Ill.) brought home a medal in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing third with a school-record time of 8.31, besting her previous record and provisional qualifying mark of 8.42 seconds. Kincaid was ranked fourth in the event entering the championships.
The throwers did their duty, accounting for seven points with two top eight finishes in the weight throw. Junior Astin Steward and sophomore Sheena James (Clinton, Iowa) finished third and eighth respectively in the event with personal best throws of 64-6 (19.66 meters) and 54-8 ½ (16.67m). Steward, who was seeded third entering the Big Ten meet, posted the second-best heave in school history, besting her previous top mark by more than a foot and a half. James tacked more than two feet onto her best heave of the season.
The Boilermaker middle distance runners placed three runners in the top eight of the 800-meter run and the mile. Senior Brooke Woodruff (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) and junior Laura Farley (Indianapolis, Ind.) placed fourth and seventh in the half mile with times of 2:12.14 and 2:12.99 respectively. The latter being a personal best for Farley. Junior Corrie Whisner (West Chester, Ohio) finished eighth in the finals of the mile run. Whisner boasted the eighth-best time in the preliminaries, but ranked 20th coming into the meet.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Woodruff, freshman Lauren Scott, senior Ashley Kemp and senior Ina Jackson rounded out the team's scoring with an eighth-place finish in the event.
Michigan won the meet with 126 2/3 points, followed by Illinois (112) and Minnesota (104.83).