April 10, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams excelled at the University of Georgia's Spec Towns National Team Invitational on Friday and Saturday, winning six invitational events. Among the wins was Brianna Neumann's first place finish in the women's pole vault in which she set a new outdoor school record with a mark of 4.17 meters (13-08.25).
Neumann previously set and tied a mark of 4.16 meters (13-07.75), clearing it first at the 2008 NCAA Mideast Regional Championships and again this season at the Arizona State Invitational. She nearly crushed the mark for the second time this season as she just missed 4.31 meters at Arizona State and nearly cleared 4.27 meters in Saturday's competition.
Fellow senior Christina Madison posted her second straight impressive day on Saturday, following Friday's triple jump meet championship with an outstanding showing in the women's long jump. She led a 1-2 finish for the Boilermakers in the event bouncing just shy of a career best with a monster leap of 6.27 meters (20-07.00). Sophomore Leah Eber was the second half of the stellar showing, posting a career-best mark of 6.22 meters (20-05.00), improving upon the fifth-best outdoor women's long jump in school history.
The Boilermakers' other two wins on the women's' side came from senior Nan Hammel and sophomore Terri Anderson as Hammel missed her season best in the 800-meter run by two hundredths of a second, crossing the line in 2:10.51, while Anderson increased her season-best toss in the discus to 47.49 meters (155-10) after finishing second in the shot put yesterday.
Senior Eric Sparks gave the Purdue men their lone win in the pole vault, upping his season-best clearance to an impressive 5.32 meters (17-05.50). He opened the outdoor season at 5.20 meters (17-00.75) last Saturday and his improvement puts him among the conference and national elite this year.
Purdue also had several near winners on the day as the Old Gold and Black posted runner-up finishes in seven other invitational events. Senior NaTasha Blair was second in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.24, and later teamed with Hammel, fellow senior Rachel Stalzer and freshman Kari Shoolbraid for a silver-medal showing and time of 3:52.77 in the women's 4x400-meter run. The Boilermakers were second in the men's and women's high jump as freshman Geoff Davis cleared an outdoor best 2.15 meters (7-00.50) on the men's side, while junior Emily Breslin marked a new outdoor career best at 1.76 meters (5-09.25) on the women's side. Junior Jacob Palmer finished second in the men's 800-meter run, crossing the line in 1:52.39, and classmates Chris Kirtz and Bill Hardcastle were respective runners-up in the long jump and discus, as Kirtz leapt 7.16 meters (23-06.00), while Hardcastle threw 52.85 meters (173-05).
In addition to their excellence in the invitational fields, the Purdue men won a pair of open races as sophomore Gabe Pirtle topped the 400-meter run and missed his career best by a tenth of a second with a time of 48.45, while classmate Cale Allen exceeded his career best in the 1,500-meter run, clocking a time of 3:58.58.
Purdue returns home next weekend, hosting the Dave Rankin Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Rankin Track. The Boilermakers will be welcoming back all their track and field alumni on Saturday, hoping to celebrate the 123 years of Purdue history in the sport.