Feb. 28, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Purdue women's track and field team pocketed 16 team points and rests in eighth place overall after the first day of competition at the 2009 Big Ten Indoor Championships, hosted by Indiana University at Gladstein Fieldhouse on Saturday. The Boilermakers scored in four events and advanced a pair of individuals to tomorrow's track finals.
Freshman Terri Anderson accounted for Purdue's first scoring of the championships, hurling a personal record mark of 14.38 meters (47-02.25) to take sixth place and earn three team points.
Junior Brianna Neumann, sophomore Tara Turnbull and senior Mallory Peck took fifth, sixth and seventh in the pole vault to rack up nine more team points, clearing matching heights of 3.97 meters (13-00.25). The height exceeds the NCAA provisional standard and marks a season best for Turnbull as she became the Purdue women's fourth national qualifier this season.
Junior Christina Madison added two more team points with a career-best effort in the long jump, leaping 6.06 meters (19-10.75) to take seventh place and match the third-longest jump in school history. Freshman Leah Eber and junior Nkeiru Ugwoaba narrowly missed advancing to the finals in the long jump with respective marks of 5.82 meters (19-01.25) and 5.80 meters (19-00.50).
The Boilermakers distance medley relay squad of senior Lauren Scott, juniors Rachel Stalzer and Kristin Phillips and sophomore Kristina Krasich posted the team's last two points of the day with a seventh-place showing. Purdue was one of eight teams to break the previous facility record in the event, posting a season-best time of 11:45.29.
Junior Ashlee Lengacher advanced to the finals of the 800-meter run for the second straight year and looks to improve on last season's fifth-place finish tomorrow. Her time of 2:09.35 is just off her season best and was the fourth fastest qualifying time on the day.
Senior Ranay Harvey just missed the Boilermakers' school record in the 60-meter hurdles, winning her heat and advancing to the finals with a time of 8.26. Her mark is just 0.01 off of the all-time mark at Purdue and is good for 12th in the NCAA heading into this weekend.
Michigan and Minnesota are tied for the team lead with 42 points apiece, while Penn State is in third with 32 points. Competition resumes tomorrow at 11 a.m. with the high jump.