Feb. 10, 2007
AMES, Iowa - The Purdue University men's and women's track and field teams posted 13 top-10 finishes at the second day of the Iowa State University Classic on Saturday, giving the team 17 for the meet. Junior captain Leah Kincaid was the women's top finisher, taking fourth in the 60-meter hurdles and fifth in the triple jump, while senior Terrell Thompson won the 600-yard run for the Boilermaker men.
Kincaid notched a time of 8.49 seconds in the hurdles, while recording her best distance of the season in the triple jump at 12.51 meters (41-00.50). She got support on the women's side from senior Corrie Whisner, first-year Katie Morrical and junior Sheena James. Whisner bettered her personal best and NCAA provisional qualifying time in the one-mile run, finishing fourth with a time of 4:45.85. Her time is the fifth-fastest in school history, overtaking Lori Overturf's mark of 4:47.70 set in 1990. Morrical posted a career record as well, racing to a time of 9:48.97 in the 3,000-meter run, good for seventh place on the day. James made an impressive return from her recent ankle injury in the shot put, tossing it 15.21 meters (49-11.00) to take ninth place overall.
Thompson's time of 1:10.95 seconds, edged out the second-place finisher by 0.23 seconds and sophomore teammate Andrew Smith, who finished seventh in the event, by 1.33 seconds. Also posting top-10 performances for the men were seniors Rickey Pinkney, Rayland Currie and John Porter and juniors Andrew Rademacher and Tyler Miller. Pinkney placed fourth in the 60-meter hurdle finals with a time of 6.97 seconds after making it through Friday's preliminaries and Saturday morning's semifinals. Rademacher and Porter took fifth and sixth, respectively in the pole vault with matching heights of 5.06 meters (16-07.25), marking a personal best for Rademacher and Porter's second straight meet clearing over five meters. Miller tallied his best shot put of the season (17.12m/56-02.00) to tie for sixth place, while Currie took home 10th in the triple jump with a distance of 14.43 meters (47-04.25). The men's squad capped the day with an outstanding performance in the 4x400-meter relay as Thompson teamed with junior captain Brian Kaluf and sophomores Jh'Rome Tuggle and Zach Logan to post a time of 3:12.27 and take ninth place. The time was the fastest recorded by any relay squad in the Big Ten this season and should ensure the Boilermakers a spot in the top heat at the conference championships.
Saturday's competition gave the women's team eight top-10 finishes, a pair of victories and six NCAA provisional qualifying marks, while the men's squad grabbed nine top-10 showings and won one event.
The Boilermakers return to action next Saturday as they host the Boilermaker Invitational at Lambert Fieldhouse.