May 28, 2010
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams had another great day at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, hosted on Friday by North Carolina A&T University at Irwin Belk Track. The list of Boilermaker NCAA Outdoor Championship qualifiers grew to five on the day as senior Brianna Neumann, junior Bill Hardcastle and freshman Geoff Davis punched their tickets to the national meet at the University of Oregon in two weeks.
It didn't take much for Neumann to advance to the second NCAA Outdoor Championship meet of her career, coming in at 4.00 meters (13-01.50) and clearing it on her first attempt to secure her spot in Oregon. The field whittled down to nine competitors as the bar raised to its top height, with Neumann and two other athletes joining the field at that mark. Neumann broke a streak of two consecutive meets in which she was unable to register a mark, righting the ship at the right time.
Hardcastle didn't want to wait until Saturday to lock up his second career trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, surpassing expectations and his season-best mark to advance to nationals in the men's shot put. Entering the competition with the No. 31 mark in the region, Hardcastle increased his season-best to 17.86 meters (58-07.25) on his third and final throw of the preliminary round, which sent him to the finals ranked 10th and finished 12th for the final qualifying spot. He'll return to take a shot at a double qualifier tomorrow as he'll throw the discus at 9:30 a.m. He'll compete in the fourth and final flight, entering the competition with the No. 15 ranked throw at 54.86 meters (180-00).
Davis put forth a steady performance to earn a trip to his second NCAA Championship meet this season in the men's high jump. After qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships, he now advances to Oregon where he'll hope to become the 28th Outdoor All-American in Purdue history. Clearing a top height of 2.16 meters (7-01.00), Davis had the exact same series on all three heights he attempted on the day, missing his first attempts at 2.06 (6-09), 2.11 (6-11) and 2.16 meters, but rebounding to clear on his second attempt. The Boilermakers had a scary moment at 2.06 meters as Davis slipped on the takeoff, but he pulled it back together to earn his bid to nationals.
Seniors Adetayo Adesanya, Lance Moe and Nan Hammel concluded outstanding Purdue careers on Friday as they all fell shy of advancing to nationals. Adesanya and Moe just missed the top-12 in the men's high jump, taking 14th and 16th, respectively, while Hammel came in 23rd in the women's 800-meter run with a time of 2:12.62. Sophomore Elizabeth Stover and freshman Jakob Engel wrapped up their seasons as well as Stover cleared just 3.60 meters (11-09.75) in the women's pole vault, while Engel threw 16.62 meters (54-06.50) in the men's shot put.
With a severe thunderstorm hitting the Greensboro area at approximately 8 p.m., the meet was suspended with the men's and women's 3,000-meter steeplechases yet to run. The races will now run at 9:30 and 10:15 a.m., respectively, as senior Sarah Klaczynski is set to run in the women's race, entering the meet with the No. 9 time in the NCAA East Region. Continue following the Official Purdue Athletics Twitter feed for updates on the race.