April 24, 2009
Philadelphia, Pa. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams got competition underway at the 115th annual Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania on Thursday. A pair of Boilermakers posted third-place finishes on the day, while two others notched personal records.
Junior Christina Madison just missed the finals of the women's long jump collegiate championship division, leaping 5.88 meters (19-03.50) in the prelims and finishing 10th overall.
Sophomore Emily Breslin tied for 12th in the women's collegiate high jump, clearing the opening height of 1.64 meters (5-04.50), while freshmen Terri Anderson and Leah Eber placed in the women's college divisions of the shot put and long jump, respectively. Anderson was third with her toss of 14.35 meters (47-01.00), and Eber earned sixth with her mark of 5.91 meters (19-04.75).
Purdue fielded a trio of distance runners in the twilight events as sophomore Matt De Silva ran the men's 5,000-meter run, while fellow sophomores Caden Shields and Katie Morrical respectively competed in the men's and women's 10,000-meter runs. De Silva grabbed 23rd place and shattered his personal record in the 5,000 with his time of 14:24.33. The time is the fastest by a Boilermaker this season and is good for seventh in the current Big Ten standings. Morrical finished 13th in the collegiate women's 10K, crossing the line in a personal-best 36:12.88, and Shields matched Anderson for the Boilermakers' top finish of the day, taking third in the men's 10K with a time of 29:56.57. Shields' time is just 26 seconds off the NCAA provisional standard and less than four seconds from cracking Purdue's all-time top-five in the event.
The Boilermaker women's distance medley relay squad captured fifth place in the college division as juniors Nan Hammel and Kristin Phillips, sophomore Lindsey McKnight and freshman Camille Buscomb teamed for a time of 11:51.80. The Purdue quartet of senior Lauren Scott, junior Rachel Stalzer, sophomore NaTasha Blair and rookie Elise Glass joined up for a 3:52.11 performance in the women's 4x400-meter relay as well to round out the Boilermakers' track outing.
Purdue's Penn Relays competition schedule resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m., while senior All-American Kara Patterson is set to face a nationally elite field in the javelin at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.