Feb. 5, 2010
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams got action underway at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational on Friday night, turning in several solid performances in the first day of competition.
Junior Caden Shields put his mark in the men's indoor record books, turning in the fourth-fastest 5,000-meter run effort in school history with a time of 14:21.54. His mark was good for seventh overall on the day as the winning effort was a time of 14:03.36 by Louisville's Matt Bruce.
Sophomore Leah Eber turned in the top collegiate mark in the women's long jump, leaping 6.11 meters (20-00.50) to best a tough field and finish second overall behind post-collegiate Tabia Charles of World Express. Senior Rachel Stalzer posted another top collegiate finish, crossing the line in 1:14.22 in the women's 500-meter run, finishing just 0.2 seconds behind event winner Kate Ruediger of UTTC.
The Boilermakers saw other top performances from sophomores Josh Lee and Ladd Mercer on the men's side and senior Sarah Klaczysnki on the women's. Lee was fifth overall in the 300-meter dash with a time of 34.84, while Mercer and Klaczynski were 10th respectively in the men's and women's 1,000-meter runs. Mercer finished in 2:26.96, and Klaczynski scored a time of 2:53.76.
While the men's pole vault and long jump and the women's high jump were also contested Friday night, results for all three events were unavailable from Notre Dame. Those results will be included with the final recap tomorrow at PurdueSports.com.