Sept. 11, 2010
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Purdue men's cross country team opened its 2010 season in impressive fashion, winning the Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW) Invitational on Saturday with an outstanding team score of just 16 points. Junior Charles White paced the Boilermakers with a career-best 8K mark of 24:12.82 to take home top individual honors in the race.
"Saturday was a great opening effort from our men," said Boilermaker head coach Jack Warner. "It was a fast-flat course, and it allowed us to go out and provide a great example of our speed and team training. Our guys stayed together as a group and ran very well."
The Boilermakers had six of their nine entries cross the finish line under the 25-minute mark, including career-best 8K efforts by five of the six. White's mark topped his previous Purdue best by more than 100 seconds, leading a sweep of the top-four spots in the race by the Old Gold and Black. Sophomore Stephen Schulz followed White across the line, chased closely by junior co-captain Cale Allen and senior Caden Shields. Schulz posted a career-best 8K of 24:27.01, while Allen surpassed his top mark with a time of 24:27.35 and Shields finished in 24:27.57. Freshman Scott Vicenzi rounded out the Boilermakers' top five, taking sixth place overall in his first collegiate race and turning in a time of 24:54.45. Sophomore Christopher Surfus was the sixth Purdue harrier under the 25-minute mark, taking seventh individually with a time of 24:57.93.
Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis finished second in the team standings, amassing 45 points, while Oakland was third with 88 points.
The Purdue men's and women's squads reunite next weekend, hosting the annual Indiana Intercollegiate Championships at the Purdue Varsity Cross Country Course on Friday, Sept. 17. For more information on next Friday's race, visit PurdueSports.com.