Feb. 28, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Purdue men's track and field team sits in fifth place after the first day of competition at the 2009 Big Ten Indoor Championships, hosted by Penn State University at Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility on Saturday. The Boilermakers scored 18 points as four individuals scored in two events, while a trio of men advanced to the finals of tomorrow's track events.
Sophomore Bill Hardcastle put Purdue in the scoring column, earning a fourth-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 17.51 meters (57-05.50). He advanced to the finals with his second toss, marking 17.46 meters (57-03.50), and bettered his mark on his fifth throw.
The Boilermakers placed three in the pole vault, led by senior Ben Pax who earned third place with a jump of 5.20 meters (17-00.75). Pax has placed at the Big Ten Championships six times in his career, including the last three meets, but Saturday's bronze marks his first medal-winning effort. Sophomore Chris Thoman and junior Eric Sparks followed Pax in succession, taking fourth and tying for fifth with matching heights of 5.10 meters (16-08.75); a personal record for Thoman.
Junior Lance Moe is in fourth place after the first day of the heptathlon with 2,845 points on the strength of a career-best effort in the high jump. Moe cleared 2.13 meters (6-11.75) to earn 925 points in the event, three heights and 112 points better than the second-place finisher. He clocked a time of 7.60 in the 60-meter dash, good for 681 points, notched a mark of 6.19 meters (20-03.75) to grab 628 points in the long jump and tossed the shot put 12.07 meters (39-07.25) for 611 points.
Rookie Josh Lee was the first Boilermaker on the day to guarantee himself a trip to tomorrow's finals, clocking a career-best time of 48.43 in the 400-meter dash. Classmate Gabe Pirtle just missed the finals with a career-best time of 48.61, while posted a career-best as well, crossing the line in 49.00.
Sophomore Josh Hembrough put himself in solid position to repeat as Big Ten Champion in the 60-meter hurdles, breezing through the preliminaries with a time of 7.87. Freshman Mike Willey just missed joining him in tomorrow's finals, finishing 0.09 shy of the cut with a time of 8.20.
Senior captain Stephen Bach continued the trend in the 600-meter run, winning his heat with a time of 1:19.74 and moving on to the finals with the fifth-fastest qualifying time in the event.
Willey bounced back in the 200-meter dash, busting out a career-best time of 21.65. Despite missing out on the top spot in his heat by just 0.04 seconds, Willey advances to tomorrow's finals with a chance to place.
Minnesota leads the team standings, racking up 47 team points, while Wisconsin is second with 36 and Indiana is third with 27. Action resumes tomorrow at 10:20 a.m. with the 60-meter hurdles in the heptathlon.