Feb. 11, 2011
ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams put forth a slew of personal records and outstanding performances at the Grand Valley State Big Meet on Friday, including sophomore Simon Rogers' top-five all-time performance in the men's one-mile run. The Boilermakers won six events on the day, taking two men's events and four women's events, including the women's 4x400-meter relay.
Rogers continued his major season improvements in the mile run on Friday, dropping his career-time to 4:07.35. The mark was good for sixth place on the day and fourth in Purdue's indoor history in the event. The race marked his second straight weekend with a mark in the Boilermaker record books after posting the No. 2 1,000-meter run time in school history at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational last week.
The Purdue women's 400-meter group had a monster day as five Boilermakers recorded career-best times in the individual race, and then four combined to improve the squad's season-best mark in the 4x400-meter relay by almost three seconds. Freshman Ebony Woodard led the charge with a time of 56.08 in the 400-meter dash, taking fourth place overall and second amongst collegiate competitors, while junior Janan Graham was sixth in 56.49, senior NaTasha Blair was seventh in 56.51 and junior Elise Glass tied for 10th in 56.74. The squad's relay time of 3:43.49 took home the meet title as well.
Other victories for the Boilermaker women came from juniors Leah Eber and Elizabeth Stover and senior Emily Breslin. Eber led a 1-2 finish in the women's long jump, matching her season-best mark of 6.07 meters (19-11.00), while freshman Nikki Nunn posted a huge personal record to notch second at 6.03 meters (19-09.50). Stover cleared a personal record of her own in the women's pole vault, soaring over 3.95 meters (12-11.50) to capture the meet title and post the fifth-best mark in the Big Ten this season. Breslin had a down day in the women's high jump, but still topped all competitors, needing just 1.72 meters (5-07.75) to win the event.
On the men's side, senior Chris Kirtz put forth a huge personal record in the men's long jump, topping the field with a leap of 7.45 meters (24-05.50). The mark is fourth in the Big Ten this season and exceeded his previous indoor record by 13 centimeters (5.25"). Fellow senior Shane Crawford made improvements on his season best in the 60-meter dash, lowering his time to 6.77 seconds in the prelims and cutting it down to 6.75 in the finals, good for fifth-best in the conference this year.
Other top marks on the day came from seniors Jacob Palmer and Stacey Wannemacher, sophomore Kari Shoolbraid and freshman Dani Bunch. Palmer improved his indoor personal record in the men's 800-meter run to 1:51.35, while Shoolbraid improved her career-best time in the women's 800-meter run to 2:09.74, good for seventh fastest in the conference this year. Wannemacher had her best throw of the season in the women's shot put, hurling it 15.78 meters (51-09.25), while Bunch continued improving upon the fourth-best women's weight throw in school history, marking 19.76 meters (64-10.00).
Most of the Boilermakers traveled back to West Lafayette after Friday's competition, while the women's distance medley relay squad stuck around to compete tomorrow. A recap of the women's relay will be available tomorrow after its completion at PurdueSports.com.