Feb. 2, 2007
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - - Junior captain Leah Kincaid qualified provisionally for the NCAA Indoor Championships as she won the long jump crown to lead the Purdue University track and field teams at the first day of competition at the University of Notre Dame's Meyo Invitational. Her mark of 6.15 meters (20-02.25) was just 0.03 meters shy of her own school record.
Kincaid's victory was Purdue's only win of the day, but hardly their only impressive performance. The men's squad captured a pair of second-place finishes as sophomore Zach Logan posted a time of 34.27 seconds in the 300-meter dash, while senior captain John Porter had a season-best clearance of 5.10 meters (16-08.75) in the pole vault.
Also placing in the top-tier of their events were freshmen Kristin Phillips and Jonathan Pullum. Phillips grabbed third in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:54.48, while Pullum snapped his personal-best in the weight throw for the third consecutive meet with a distance of 19.25 meters (63-02.00), good for fourth place. Fellow first-years Sarah Klaczynski and Katie Morrical excelled in the distances events as well as Klaczynski finished sixth behind Phillips in the 1,000 (2:58.13), and Morrical grabbed eighth in the 5,000-meter run (17:11.67).
Sophomore Nolan Petties notched another impressive distance in the long jump, marking 7.21 meters (23-08.00) to finish sixth, while senior Terrell Thompson fell just shy of the school record in the 500-meter run, finishing ninth in 1:04.49. Also turning in top-10 performances for the Boilermaker men were sophomore Ben Harpenau, who finished seventh in the weight throw (18.14m/59-06.25), junior Andrew Rademacher, who cleared 4.85 meters in the pole vault to finish eighth, and sophomore Andrew Smith, who placed 10th in the 500 (1:05.14).
Competition continues tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m.