May 17, 2008
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams continued their solid performances at the 2008 Big Ten Outdoor Championships on Saturday, winning a trio of gold medals and smashing a pair of school records. Junior Kara Patterson highlighted the day with one of the best women's javelin performances in NCAA and American history, hurling it 61.56 meters (202-00).
Patterson's mark not only secured her second career Big Ten gold medal, but also shattered the Big Ten Championships record and the Boilermakers' all-time record, both previously held by Serene Ross. The throw exceeds the "A" standard for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and is just 0.26 meters shy of the NCAA record of 61.82 meters, set by Ukrainian national Irina Kharun of Indiana in 2003. It's the top throw by an American in 2008, the ninth longest throw in the world this year, the second longest in NCAA history, and places her second on the U.S. all-time list behind American record-holder Kim Kreiner.
Senior Leah Kincaid continued increasing her Purdue record in the women's long jump, leaping 6.45 meters (21-02.00) to win her first career Big Ten Championships. The exceeds her previous mark of 6.37 meters, set two weeks ago at the Jesse Owens Track Classic, and surpassed the facility record of 6.42 meters, which has stood since 1991. Sophomore Christina Madison bounced posted the second longest women's long jump mark in school history as well, placing seventh with a leap of 6.25 meters (20-06.25).
Freshman Billy Hardcastle made a bid for Big Ten Men's Field Freshman of the Year honors, winning the discus with a career-best throw of 57.13 meters (187-05). His toss shattered his previous best by nearly five meters, vaulted him to 17th in the nation and fifth in the NCAA Mideast Region, and bumped him up to third all-time at Purdue.
Sophomore Stacey Wannemacher claimed third in the women's shot put, just missing her career- and season-best throw of 15.83 meters (51-11.25). The bronze is her first career Big Ten medal and picked up six team points for the Boilermakers.
Junior Nolan Petties picked up six team points in the men's long jump, placing third and matching his career-best mark of 7.59 meters (24-11.00). Sophomore Adetayo Adesanya and junior Chris Kirkwood doubled up in the men's high jump as Adesanya placed second with a mark of 2.10 meters (6-10.75), while Kirkwood was fifth at 2.08 meters (6-09.50).
Rookie Josh Hembrough set a new facility record and posted the top qualifying time in the men's 110-meter hurdles, fracturing his own personal record with a mark of 13.78. The time is fifth on Purdue's all-time list, just .01 seconds shy of Rickey Pinkney's career best. Senior Brian Kaluf posted the second fastest qualifier in the event, edging his personal record with a time of 14.07. Freshman Matt De Silva advanced to tomorrow's finals in the men's 1,500-meter run, earning an at-large spot with his time of 3:54.21, while senior Jh'Rome Tuggle moved on to the finals in the men's 200-meter dash, posting a time of 21.37.
Kincaid qualified for tomorrow's finals in the women's 100-meter dash with the second-fastest time in Purdue's history at 11.67, while junior teammate Ranay Harvey cracked her career-best in the 100-meter hurdles and qualified for the finals with a time of 13.55, and snagged a qualifying time of 1:00.82 in the 400-meter hurdles. Sophomore Ashlee Lengacher clocked a time of 2:10.78 to move on to tomorrow's finals in the women's 800-meter run as well.
After the second day of competition, the Purdue men sit in second place with 48 points, just two points behind meet leader Wisconsin, while the Boilermaker women are in a three-way tie for second with Penn State and Iowa with 36 points. Minnesota leads the women's championship with 50 team points.
The final day of the championships begins at 11 a.m. tomorrow with the women's triple jump and women's discus throw. The men get underway at 12:30 p.m. with the shot put competition.