Feb. 28, 2010
Complete Results | Photo Gallery
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Purdue women's track and field team posted 71 points en route to a sixth-place finish at the 2010 Big Ten Indoor Championships, hosted by Penn State University at the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility over the weekend. Senior Christina Madison and junior Stacey Wannemacher both medaled for their second straight day on Sunday to lead the Boilermakers.
The Boilermakers bettered last year's indoor total by 32.5 points, moving up two spots in the team standings for their best finish since 2002. The host Nittany Lions captured the conference title, finishing with 111 points, while Ohio State was second with 88 points and Indiana was third with 83. Minnesota and Wisconsin rounded out the top five as the Golden Gophers was one point back from Indiana (82 points), while the Badgers edged out Purdue by just a point (72 points).
Madison backed up yesterday's championship performance in the long jump as the tail end of a 2-3 finish in the triple jump on Sunday, following fellow senior Nkeiru Ugwoaba who earned the silver medal. Ugwoaba matched her season best mark, leaping 12.63 meters (41-05.25), while Madison was right behind her at 12.58 meters (41-03.25) for the bronze.
Wannemacher moved up from bronze to silver on Sunday, placing second in the weight throw with a career-best mark of 19.58 meters (64-03.00) after yesterday's third-place effort in the shot put. She had her best series of the season, marking five of her six efforts over 18.50 meters, and two over 19 meters.
Junior Emily Breslin rounded out another impressive field event day for the Boilermakers with a fourth-place and career-best effort in the high jump. Breslin marked 1.79 meters (5-10.50) for a slight increase in her season best and NCAA provisional qualifying jump.
Seniors Nan Hammel and Rachel Stalzer added points on the track for the Boilermakers, both following up on career-best days yesterday. Hammel finished fourth in the 800-meter run, crossing the line in 2:09.23, while Stalzer was sixth in the 600-meter run with a mark of 1:31.14.
A select group will head to last chance meets next weekend, looking to qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships, to be hosted by the University of Arkansas on March 12-13. The Boilermakers have one automatic qualifier in senior Brianna Neumann, and six other provisional qualifying marks, including Wannemacher, Madison, Breslin and Hammel.