Feb. 10, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams are set to make some of their final preparations for the indoor postseason this weekend, heading to the Grand Valley State University Big Meet on Friday and Saturday. The Boilermakers had some of their top marks from the 2010 season at this meet and look for another strong performance at the Laker Turf Building this weekend.
The Boilermakers are coming off a solid showing last weekend at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational, including a sweep of the men's and women's shot put, another strong performance by sophomore Geoff Davis in the high jump and a second straight personal record 800-meter run by fellow sophomore Kari Shoolbraid.
"Our team made some big strides last weekend," said Purdue head coach Jack Warner. "We're in that time of year where preparing to peek at Big Tens and NCAAs, and this weekend marks another opportunity to do that."
Senior Bill Hardcastle is tied for the longest win streak in the men's shot put in NCAA Division I, taking home the meet title in his last four outings in the event. Hardcastle's last outing was the most impressive as he threw an indoor career best 18.27 meters (59-11.25), and avenged his only loss of the season, topping DePaul's Tim Nedow, who currently owns the nation's No. 6 mark. Hardcastle's top mark is good for 17th in the country and fifth in the Big Ten this season.
The Boilermaker women's throwers took Notre Dame by storm, placing four in the top-nine of the women's shot put and three in the top-eight of the women's weight throw. Freshman Dani Bunch continued to lead the way for the Old Gold and Black, winning the shot put and taking second in the weight throw, while senior Stacey Wannemacher was fourth in the shot put and fifth in the weight throw.
Davis cleared at least 2.18 meters (7-02.00) for the third straight meet last weekend, finishing second in the event at Notre Dame to 2010 NCAA Indoor Championship Runner-Up Ricky Robertson of Mississippi. Davis' career-best mark of 2.21 meters (7-03.00) remains tied for eighth in the nation this season as he continues to chase the NCAA automatic qualifying height of 2.24 meters (7-04.25), which he's attempted in each of the past three weekends. His best mark of the 2010 indoor season came at Grand Valley State, and he'll look to repeat the feat on Friday.
With back-to-back personal records in the women's 800-meter run coming into the weekend, the Boilermakers look for Shoolbraid to continue the trend at Grand Valley State. She ran a six-second indoor personal record two weeks ago at the University of Kentucky and then lowered the mark to 2:11.83 at Notre Dame on Saturday. Currently 14th in the Big Ten standings in the event, just a small improvement could vault Shoolbraid inside the top-eight in the conference.
Two Boilermaker freshmen looking for breakout performances this weekend are Ciana Tabb and Emily Becker. Tabb enters the weekend with a season best of 8.71 seconds in the women's 60-meter hurdles, needing a small improvement to put herself in contention for Big Ten Championship scoring, while Becker will make her collegiate debut in the women's pentathlon, where she'll compete in the 60-meter hurdles, the long jump, the shot put, the high jump and the 800-meter run. Wisconsin's Dorcas Akinniyi is the defending Big Ten pentathlon champion and owns the conference's top mark this season at 3,964 points.
Purdue will compete in all but one event on Friday, running the women's first distance medley relay of the season on Saturday. A full recap of Friday's action will be available after the completion of all events at PurdueSports.com.