Jan. 27, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams hit the road for the first time this season, traveling to the University of Kentucky on Friday and Saturday for the Wildcats' Rod McCravy Memorial Meet at Nutter Field House. Competition opens Friday at 6 p.m. with four field events, and continues Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with field events and 12:30 p.m. on the track.
This weekend's event marks the largest of the Boilermakers' young season, featuring 15 teams on the men's side and 17 on the women's. Men's competition features several standout teams, including schools from the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Big East Conference. In addition to the host Wildcats, Mississippi State represents the SEC, Georgia Tech and Miami hail from the ACC and Louisville and Cincinnati represent the Big East. On the women's side, the Boilermakers meet up with several of the same squads, highlighted by three of the top-25 in the latest USTFCCCA poll. No. 8 Southern Illinois is the top-ranked squad in the field, led by their outstanding depth in the throws areas, while No. 21 Louisville and 23rd-ranked Big Ten Conference foe Ohio State will be in attendance as well.
"Our kids are excited to open things up a bit and get into a big meet," said Purdue head coach Jack Warner as the Boilermakers have hosted dual meets against intrastate rivals Indiana and Indiana State the last two weekends. "With so much talent from so many good schools and high-caliber conferences, it's sure to be a great meet."
Coming off of outstanding individual performances by sophomore Geoff Davis and Big Ten Women's Field Athlete of the Week Dani Bunch, the Boilermakers are in search of more breakout showings this weekend. Davis cleared an indoor career-best 2.21 meters (7-03.00) last weekend in the men's high jump, setting a Gene Edmonds Cup meet record and matching the fifth-best mark in the nation this season. Bunch continued impressing the nation in just the third meet of her collegiate career, logging top-20 national marks in the women's shot put and weight throw. Her toss of 15.78 meters (51-09.25) in the shot put is good for 18th in the country, while her weight throw mark of 19.63 meters (64-05.00) ranks 13th. Both Davis and Bunch will have an opportunity to compete against NCAA Championship caliber competition again this weekend.
Candidates for break-out Boilermaker performances this weekend include senior Jacob Palmer and sophomore Simon Rogers on the men's side and senior Emily Breslin and junior Leah Eber on the women's. Palmer is making his season debut in the 800-meter run, and looks to put up a solid time after three straight outstanding performances in the 600-meter run. He's run a personal record in the 600 twice this season, and has his eyes set on his indoor PR of 1:50.97 in the 800. Rogers stormed on to the national scene in the one-mile run in his debut this season against Indiana on Jan. 15, running a time of 4:09.90, good for 21st in NCAA Division I (after conversion to banked/oversized track). Looking to go head-to-head with some of the nation's best in the event, Rogers looks to continue trimming his time and climbing the national leaderboard.
Breslin has been a model of consistency so far this season in the women's high jump, clearing 1.75 meters (5-08.75) in each of her first three meets, and winning all three competitions. With an elite field scheduled for Saturday, Breslin looks to step up and go after her indoor personal record of 1.79 meters (5-10.50) and the coveted six-foot barrier (1.83 meters). Eber has yet to crack the 6.00-meter mark in the women's long jump this year, but is more than capable and looks to do so on Saturday. She's currently tied for the Boilermakers' indoor record in the event, marking 6.23 meters (20-05.25) in 2010, but wants the mark all to herself as she pursues her first trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Friday evening consists of the men's and women's weight throw, women's pole vault, men's high jump and men's and women's triple jump, starting at 6 p.m. The field events resume Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. with the women's high jump and women's long jump, while track events begin at 12:30 p.m. with the preliminary rounds of the women's 60-meter hurdles. A full recap of Purdue's action and event results will be available at PurdueSports.com at the conclusion of each day's competition.