April 26, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - The Purdue University women's track and field team had an extremely successful start to the 2007 Penn Relays on Thursday as junior Astin Steward placed second in the Championship of America hammer throw and the distance medley relay (DMR) team placed ninth.
Steward's runner-up throw of 58.41 meters (191-08) was one of her top efforts of the season, while the DMR squad of seniors Laura Farley and Corrie Whisner and freshmen Rachel Stalzer and Kristin Phillips smashed the previous Purdue record. Their time of 11:26.60 broke the previous mark by more than 12 seconds, which had been standing since 1983.
Five other Boilermaker women notched top-10 performances in their respective fields. Senior Lindsay Blaine and freshman Stacey Wannemacher each took third in their respective events as Blaine topped 47 meters (154-02.50) in the college championship javelin, while Wannemacher marked 14.24 meters (46-08.75) in the college shot put.
Senior Lindsay Polhemus grabbed fourth in the collegiate discus with a throw of 47.25 meters (155-00.25), missing the NCAA Regional standard by five centimeters, while first-year Christina Madison fell just 15 centimeters short of the qualifying mark in the collegiate long jump to place sixth (5.85m/19-02.50). Fellow rookie Katie Morrical set a personal best in the collegiate championship 3,000-meter run at 9:45, good for seventh place.
The Boilermaker men will leap into action tomorrow morning with the collegiate pole vault at 10 a.m. The women hope to continue their success with the triple jump at 11 a.m.