Jan. 17, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field team added four more NCAA provisional qualifiers on Saturday at the Indiana Invitational, hosted by the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Ind. Joining junior Eric Sparks on the national lists was seniors Mallory Peck and Ben Harpenau and sophomores Shane Crawford and Josh Hembrough.
The Boilermakers had a sneak peek at a portion of this year's Big Ten field as they were joined in competition by the host Hoosiers, Michigan State and the Michigan and Illinois women's teams.
Crawford opened his season in outstanding fashion, winning the men's 60-meter dash with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6.73 seconds, just 0.03 off the Purdue record he shares with Kenneth Baxter. Hembrough was equally impressive, topping the men's 60-meter hurdles and notching a national provisional qualifier with a mark of 7.91 seconds.
Harpenau added another NCAA provisional mark in the men's weight throw, winning the event with and just missing his career best with a toss of 19.51 meters (64-00.25). He currently sits just outside Purdue's all-time top five in the event, and is on the verge of climbing on to the Boilermakers' career leaderboard. Sophomore Bill Hardcastle was solid in the men's shot put, tossing it 16.57 meters (54-04.50) to finish second overall.
A two-time NCAA Indoor All-American, Peck notched her first national provisional qualifying mark of the season, clearing 4.00 meters (13-01.50) to take second in the women's pole vault.
Junior Ashlee Lengacher made her season debut in the 800-meter run, clocking an impressive time of 2:10.22 for third place overall, but missing the NCAA provisional standard by just over a second. Senior Ranay Harvey performed in similar fashion in the women's 60-meter hurdles, finishing seventh in 8.79. Junior Nkeiru Ugwoaba placed second in the women's triple jump, bouncing 12.18 meters (39-11.50).
On the men's side, junior Adetayo Adesanya cleared 2.10 meters (6-10.75) for the second straight meet, taking third overall, while his women's counterpart, sophomore Emily Breslin was fifth in the high jump with a clearance of 1.65 meters (5-05.00).
Other solid performances came from freshmen Leah Eber, Elise Glass, Mike Willey and Josh Lee. Eber finished fourth in the women's long jump and notched a career best in the 200-meter dash, while Glass posted personal records in the women's 60- and 200-meter dashes. Willey finished fourth in the men's 200-meter dash and fifth in the 60-meter hurdles, and Lee was sixth in the men's 200-meter dash and third in the 400-meter dash.
The Boilermakers return to action next weekend as they host Indiana State and Louisville for the annual Gene Edmonds Cup.