Jan. 29, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams continued improving across the board on Saturday, taking down a wealth of personal records at the Rod McCravy Memorial, hosted by the University of Kentucky at Nutter Field House. Boilermaker freshman Dani Bunch and sophomore Simon Rogers paced the groups with top-five all-time Purdue marks in their respective events.
The reigning Big Ten Women's Field Athlete of the week, Bunch put forth another personal record in the shot put, increasing the No. 2 mark in the Purdue indoor record books to 16.04 meters (52-07.50). Her mark came on her final throw of the day, vaulting her from fifth-to-third in the final standings and all the way to 14th in the current NCAA Division I list.
Rogers ran the men's one-mile run for the second time this season and improved his personal record for the second time as well, crossing the line in 4:07.14 to finish sixth on the day. His mark is the fourth-fastest in Purdue's indoor history, surpassing Bill Shuey and Robin Liddel on the Boilermakers' all-time list, and should keep him inside the national top-30 in the event.
The Old Gold and Black saw several impressive performances on the women's side, including outstanding marks by senior Emily Breslin, juniors Leah Eber, Elise Glass and Kyla Chapman, and sophomores Camille Buscomb and Kari Shoolbraid. Breslin and Eber stood out in the field events as Breslin took second in the high jump, matching her indoor career best, and Eber was the runner-up in the long jump with a season-best leap. Breslin cleared 1.79 meters (5-10.50) on Saturday, tying Big Ten rival Ashley Galbraith of Ohio State, but accepting silver-medal honors on misses. Eber bounced into the conference lead in the long jump with a mark of 6.07 meters (19-11.00), inching closer to her school-record mark of 6.23 meters (20-05.25).
Buscomb, Shoolbraid, Glass and Chapman had breakout performances on the track on Saturday, each setting personal records in their respective races. Buscomb smashed her top time in the one-mile run, crossing the line in 4:51.06 to take fourth place on the day and closing in on the top-10 conference times this season. Shoolbraid made an impressive season-debut in the 800-meter run, logging the Big Ten's No. 10 time and surpassing her collegiate best by more than six seconds with a mark of 2:12.17. Glass led a Boilermaker trio of personal records in the 400-meter run, joined by freshman Ebony Woodard and senior NaTasha Blair. Glass posted a time of 56.93, followed by Woodard in 57.11 and Blair at 57.25. Chapman and senior teammate Jennifer Hall both edged out their personal records in the 3,000-meter run as Chapman crossed the line in 9:58.82, trailed closely by Hall in 9:59.02.
On the men's side, seniors Bill Hardcastle, Shane Crawford, Jacob Palmer and Chris Thoman and sophomore Scott Lasiter provided solid performances, placing towards the top of their fields and turning in good marks. Hardcastle won the shot put for his third straight meet, falling just shy of his season-best toss at 17.92 meters (58-09.50), but topping an impressive national field. Crawford was fourth in the men's 60-meter dash (third among collegiate competitors), easing into the finals with a prelim time of 6.84, and improving his season-best time to 6.78 in the finals.
Palmer led an outstanding Boilermaker showing in the 800-meter run as he, sophomore Mitch Keyser and freshman Dan Porter finished second, third and fourth in the race. Palmer crossed the line in 1:51.58 in his first race of the year at 800 meters, while Keyser and Porter posted huge personal records at 1:52.39 and 1:52.66, respectively. Thoman continued chasing his personal record in the pole vault, increasing his season-best height to 5.05 meters (16-06.75) to tie for second on the day. Lasiter notched a fifth-place effort in the 3,000-meter run, turning in a time of 8:23.33 in just his second race for the Boilermakers after transferring from the University of South Alabama.
The Boilermakers continue the indoor campaign next weekend, heading to South Bend, Ind. for the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational. Competition begins Friday at 5 p.m. (ET) with the women's long jump, while Saturday's action is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. with the women's 3,000-meter run.