June 7, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams are set for the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships, qualifying seven individuals for the national meet. The championships are scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday, June 9-12, at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The Boilermakers' seven individual qualifiers, three men, four women, is tied for the fifth most in the Big Ten this season, matching Illinois and Ohio State and finishing ahead of Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa. Penn State led the conference with 15 individuals, while Indiana had nine and Minnesota and Wisconsin had eight. Of the seven Purdue qualifiers, four are set to make their first career appearance at the outdoor national championships, while all seven are in search of their first career All-America honor.
Seniors Brianna Neumann, Sarah Klaczynski and Nkeiru Ugwoaba and junior Emily Breslin will represent the Purdue women in Oregon all looking to add to the 36 All-America awards in school history and help the Boilermakers score at the national meet for the 21st time. The Purdue women have scored at the outdoor national meet in each of the past three seasons, finishing in the top-25 twice, and have a top showing of 12th with a school record 18.33 points in 1988.
Breslin will kick off the competition for the Old Gold and Black, set for the women's high jump on Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. (ET). Heading to her first NCAA Championship event, Breslin qualified for the nation meet with a career-best mark of 1.81 meters (5-11.25) at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, tying for the top mark of the qualifying event and matching the fifth-highest outdoor mark in school history. Breslin heads into the championship tied with the 12th-best mark in the field, but sits just two centimeters away from a place in the top-eight and placement points.
Klaczynski and Ugwoaba continue competition on Thursday as Klaczynski is set to run in the semifinals of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, while Ugwoaba will compete in the triple jump. Klaczynski heads to Oregon on the heels of yet another personal-record showing in her event, dropping her career best to 10:22.81 and earning an automatic qualifying spot at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds with a third-place finish in her heat. Her mark is the third-fastest in school history and now trails Purdue record holder and 2004 All-American Amber Ferner by 10.55 seconds. A top-12 finish in Thursday's semifinals will earn Klaczynski a spot in Saturday's championship race, with the top-eight finishers earning All-America honors. Ugwoaba slipped into the national field with a 12th-place finish at the east region qualifier, looking to become the first woman in Purdue history to surpass the 13-meter mark. Ugwoaba won her second career Big Ten Championship with a Boilermaker outdoor record mark of 12.95 meters (42-06.00), taking the conference meet on her sixth and final jump.
Neumann rounds out the Purdue women's effort, set to vie for an All-America award in the pole vault. This marks Neumann's second trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, qualifying the first time in 2008 after a second-place finish at the Mideast Regional Championships. After setting the Boilermakers' indoor record and qualifying for the national indoor meet this season, Neumann has continued her outstanding senior season outdoors, breaking her own outdoor school record twice and entering the week with the No. 16 mark in the field at 4.20 meters (13-11.25).
On the men's side, senior Eric Sparks, junior Bill Hardcastle and freshman Geoff Davis represent the Boilermakers' national scoring hopes, looking to put Purdue on the board for the 39th time in school history and add to the Boilermakers' total of 36 outdoor All-America awards. The Old Gold and Black broke a three-year drought last season, scoring four points and tying for 52nd place at the national meet in Fayetteville, Ark., and look to crack the top-25 this season for the first time since 1972. Their best finish of recent history was a 26th-place effort in 2000, scoring 9.5 points, while the top finish in school history was a fifth-place tie with 20 points in 1944.
Sparks heads to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the fourth time in his career, completing the hopes to advance in each season of his collegiate competition. However, the honor of All-America has eluded Sparks to date, as he'll look to climb the podium for the first time in Eugene. Sparks enters the week with a season-best mark of 5.32 meters (17-05.50), and a career best of 5.41 meters (17-09.00), after taking the silver medal at both the Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Championships this year.
Qualifying for the national outdoor meet for the second time in his career, Hardcastle is set to compete in the men's shot put after qualifying with a season-best effort at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds. Hardcastle tossed 17.86 meters (58-07.25) to earn the 12th and final spot from the east region, advancing to nationals after a year absence as he qualified in the shot put in 2008 as well.
Davis is set to complete an outstanding freshman campaign in which he qualified for both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Davis posted the No. 4 mark in Purdue's indoor history with his top height of 2.20 meters (7-02.50), and has gone on to clear a career-best 2.22 meters (7-03.25) outdoors, tied for the second best in Purdue's outdoor history with Boilermaker great Shaun Guice. Davis was the Big Ten Outdoor championship runner-up after taking fourth at the indoor conference meet this season.
The top-eight finishers in each event, in addition to the top-eight American-citizen placers, will earn USTFCCCA All-America honors, and an individual may fit both criteria, but will only be awarded once.
Non-televised portions of the four days in Eugene will be streamed live on NCAA.com, while CBS College Sports will go live on Friday at 8 p.m. (ET) and CBS will go live Saturday at 1 p.m. Live updates of the Boilermakers' competition will be available throughout the championships at the Official Purdue Twitter Page, while daily recaps and interviews will be posted at the end of each day at PurdueSports.com.
Purdue NCAA Championship Competition ScheduleStudent-Athlete - Event: Date, TimeEmily Breslin - Women's High Jump: Wednesday, June 9, 7:45 p.m.Eric Sparks - Men's Pole Vault: Thursday, June 10, 7:00 p.m.Nkeiru Ugwoaba - Women's Triple Jump: Thursday, June 10, 7:00 p.m.Sarah Klaczynski - Women's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase: Thursday, June 10, 9:15 p.m. Finals: Saturday, June 12, 1:54 p.m.Geoff Davis - Men's High Jump: Friday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.Brianna Neumann - Women's Pole Vault: Friday, June 11, 7:00 p.m.Bill Hardcastle - Men's Shot Put: Saturday, June 12, 12:40 p.m.
All times are Eastern Standard Time and are subject to change