Feb. 25, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's track and field teams are set for the 2010 Big Ten Indoor Championships, hosted by the University of Minnesota at the University Fieldhouse in Minneapolis, Minn., this weekend. The Boilermakers amassed just 41.5 points last season, and look to return to the top half of the conference standings on the strength of several outstanding entries.
The Boilermakers have had a roller-coaster showing at the last few indoor championships, taking second with a school record 102 points in 2008, before last year's 10th-place showing. This year's team has two athletes ranked at the top of the Big Ten standings, with three others sitting second and several others looking to score.
Junior Shane Crawford and sophomore Mike Willey are both seeded atop the conference standings in the 60- and 200-meter dashes this season, both hoping to earn their first career Big Ten Championship this weekend. Crawford is in the midst of his first full, healthy season in the sprints area, running in six meets this season and showing exceptional competitiveness and consistency. Tied for the Purdue record with a career best of 6.70 seconds, Crawford has clocked a time between his season-best 6.72 and 6.79 on eight occasions, and has been the top-collegiate finisher in five of his six outings.
Willey had a breakout performance at last weekend's Boilermaker Invitational, posting the conference's top mark in the 200-meter dash and clocking a career best in the 60-meter hurdles. He ran a time of 21.79 on the Lambert Fieldhouse 200-meter track, which converts to 21.39 by Big Ten's oversized or banked-track time standards, and owns a career-best mark of 21.45 seconds at last year's Big Ten Outdoor Championships. He also crossed the line in 8.12 in the 60-meter hurdles, which is just a tenth of a second out of the top-10 marks in the conference this season.
Junior Josh Hembrough hopes to pick up his fourth career conference championship in the hurdles events, heading to Minneapolis with the second-fastest mark in the 60-meter hurdles this weekend. Hembrough has a season best of 7.94 seconds, but owns a career best of 7.77 seconds, good for third all time at Purdue. He won the 2008 indoor title and owns back-to-back 110-meter championships at the 2008 and 2009 outdoor meets, in addition to 2009 All-America honors for his eighth-place showing in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2009 indoor championships.
The Boilermakers aim for big team-point totals in the high jump and pole vault, with multiple highly-ranked entries in both events. Freshman Geoff Davis and senior Adetayo Adesanya look to take the high jump by storm, while senior Erick Sparks, junior Chris Thoman and freshman Mitch Erickson hope to rack up some scoring in the pole vault.
Davis has exploded on to the Big Ten scene in his inaugural year, clearing four personal records en route to a career best 2.20 meters (7-02.50) at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet two weeks ago. His mark is good for second in the conference, tied for ninth in the nation and ranks fourth on Purdue's all-time indoor record list. Adesanya is gunning for his second career Big Ten indoor title in the event, topping the field at the 2008 championships at the University of Wisconsin. Adesanya is ranked fifth in the conference with his indoor career best mark of 2.15 meters (7-00.50) after claiming All-America honors at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships with a fifth-place finish and career-best mark of 2.20 meters (7-02.50). Fellow senior Lance Moe could throw his name in the mix as well after competing in the heptathlon this weekend. Moe has placed at the conference meet four times over the past three season.
Sparks is a two-time Big Ten Outdoor Champion in the pole vault, and looks to bring his act indoors this season, where he finished second in 2008, fourth in 2009 and sixth in 2006. Sparks is ranked second in the conference and is tied for 12th in the nation with his season best of 5.35 meters (17-06.50), cleared last weekend at the Boilermaker Invitational. Thoman and Erickson are fresh off indoor career bests as well as they added their names to the NCAA provisional qualifier lists with matching heights of 5.20 meters (17-00.75), tying them for fifth in the conference.
Junior Chris Kirtz looks to be a conference championship contender in the long jump, which is wide open with four entries within just six centimeters of each other heading into the weekend. Michigan sophomore Robert Peddlar and Ohio State freshman Korbin Smith share the conference lead at 7.35 meters (24-01.50), while Kirtz is just behind at 7.32 meters (24-00.25), marked last weekend at the Boilermaker Invitationa, and Wisconsin senior Rayme Mackinson sits fourth at 7.29 meters (23-11.00). Adesanya could add points in the long jump as well as the triple jump, owning a career best of 7.12 meters (23-05.50) in the long jump and 15.04 meters (49-04.25) in the triple jump, good for fifth in this season's Big Ten standings.
Fellow juniors Bill Hardcastle and Caden Shields look to do some damage in the throws and distance areas, respectively, as Hardcastle will challenge in the shot put, while Shields looks to score in the 5,000-meter run. Hardcastle owns an NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the second straight season, hurling an indoor career best 18.00 meters (59-00.75) last weekend. The 2008 Big Ten Outdoor Athlete and Freshman of the Year, Hardcastle's toss is good for sixth in the current conference standings. Shields jumped on to the Boilermakers' all-time list in the 5,000-meter run this season, running a time of 14:21.54 at the Meyo Invitational this season, good for fourth in Purdue's indoor history. Shields became the first Boilermaker in 23 years to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships this season, and looks to continue that success over the weekend.
The men's championship will commence on Saturday at 10 a.m. with the heptathlon, resuming Sunday at 10:20 a.m. with the second half of the multi-events. For more information visit Minnesota's championship website.