April 28, 2006
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Kara Patterson finished about a meter short of repeating as javelin champion at the Penn Relays, losing out to UNC-Wilmington's Anna Raynor, 52.70 to 51.22.
Through six outdoor competitions this season, Patterson has yet to place lower than second. The sophomore has earned four javelin titles and two runner-up showings; earlier in the season she was ranked as the No. 1 collegiate thrower in the country.
Also in the javelin, Purdue's Lindsay Blaine placed fifth with her best throw of 45.53 meters.
Purdue's lone winner from Thursday's first day of competition was Megan Darraugh, who won the pole vault title with a leap of 3.8 meters. Darraugh's jump tied with three others, but was able to win on the tiebreaker.
In the pole vault championship, which is reserved for the top 14 collegiate jumpers, Brianna Neumann placed seventh with a jump of 3.9 meters, Jocelyn Lindsay and Mallory Peck finished a few places behind with a leap of 3.8 meters.
Also in the field, Leah Kincaid was seventh in the long jump, Sheena James was ninth in the shot put and Lindsay Polhemus was 19th in the discus.
On the track, David Rae and Amber Ferner excelled in the steeplechase. Rae was fourth with a time of 8:56.84 and Ferner was seventh at 10:32.62.
Elsewhere, Carrie Fett placed 13th in the 10K at 37:30.79 and the 4x400 team of Brooke Woodruff, Lauren Scott, Kincaid and Ina Jackson were seventh in their heat with a mark of 3:46.03.