March 3, 2007
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Purdue University men's and women's track and field teams took one last shot at improving their provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA Indoor Championships at the Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational on Saturday. Sophomore Mallory Peck led the women's team with a first-place finish in the pole vault, while senior Rickey Pinkney highlighted the men's side with a second-place showing in the 60-meter hurdles.
Peck's height of 4.02 meters (13-02.25) was another NCAA provisional qualifier, but didn't improve her season-best clearance of 4.11 meters (13-05.75). Pinkney matched his school-record time of 7.76 seconds in the finals after coming up just short of it in the prelims (7.77). Junior Keith Hopkins also placed in the hurdles, finishing fifth with a time of 7.92 seconds. Senior captain Laura Farley barely missed provisional qualification in the 800-meter run with a career-best time of 2:09.16, while classmate Corrie Whisner clocked a time of 4:53.31 in the mile. Sophomore Ben Harpenau finished ninth in the weight throw, marking 17.57 meters (57-07.75).
Purdue's select provisional qualifiers will travel to Fayetteville, Ark. next weekend for the NCAA Indoor Championships. For more information visit www.ncaasports.com.