April 7, 2011
Sun Angel Track Classic Schedule
Sun Angel Track Classic Heat Sheets
Purdue Track & Field on Facebook
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams head West this weekend for the 32nd-Annual Sun Angel Track Classic, hosted by Arizona State University at Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium. The enormous event includes a variety of sections and races involving high school athletes, collegians and premier events that include some of the U.S.A's top professional competitors.
The Boilermakers have routinely attended a meet at Arizona State for the last five seasons, but typically attend the Arizona State Invitational during their opening weekend of the outdoor season. In 2011, Purdue forwent the opener in Tempe, Ariz., in favor of the Sun Angel Classic.
"We have a great relationship with Arizona State and we feel they put on a quality meet with solid competition," said Purdue head coach Jack Warner. "We decided to mix things up this season, going to Mississippi State for our outdoor opener, and increasing our level of competition out West with the Sun Angel Classic instead of their invitational. It's going to be a great meet."
Several of the nation's top teams will be in attendance, including a pair of ranked teams on the women's side and three ranked squads on the men's. Fourth-ranked Oklahoma highlights the women's competition, followed by the 15th-ranked host Sun Devils, while the men's field includes 11th-ranked Minnesota, No. 15 BYU and the 17th-ranked Sooners. Other standout squads include Big Ten rivals Iowa and Michigan State, Big 12 representative Iowa State, Colorado State and DePaul.
While competition should be impressive across the board for the Old Gold and Black, there are four events where a Boilermaker will find themselves in the midst of a nationally-elite field. The women's throws premier events will be especially thick with Purdue senior Stacey Wannemacher, freshman Dani Bunch and junior Terri Anderson looking to come out on top. Wannemacher and Bunch will be in a nine-member field in the shot put, while Anderson is one of nine in the discus.
Wannemacher is currently 17th in the nation with her season-best mark of 16.13 meters (52-11.00), while Bunch has yet to break out in the outdoor campaign after a top toss of 16.07 meters (52-08.75) during the indoor season. The Boilermaker pair will be pushed hard on Saturday as the field includes the No. 3 and No. 7 marks in the country this season in Oklahoma's Tia Brooks and Karen Shump. Brooks has thrown 17.31 meters (56-09.50), while Shump has a top throw of 16.80 meters (55-01.50). Former Sun Devils and multiple All-America honorees Jessica Pressley and Sarah Stevens-Walker will be on hand as well, pushing the bar even higher.
Anderson is one of four entries currently ranked in the top-15 in the country in the women's discus, sitting 13th with her season-best mark of 52.92 meters (173-07). She'll be head-to-head with the national leader in Arizona State freshman Anna Jelmini, who owns a mark of 60.49 meters (198-05), the country's No. 3 throw of 55.13 meters (180-10) from Oklahoma junior Brittany Borman and the ninth-longest toss in NCAA Division I from Michigan State's Beth Rohl at 53.24 meters (174-08). In addition will be American Record holder and three-time Olympian Suzy Powell-Roos and two-time Arizona State All-American Tai Battle.
The men's throws will have some depth as well on Saturday as Purdue senior Bill Hardcastle will vie for his third straight win in the shot put. He's taken event titles at the SEC/Big Ten Challenge and Mike Poehlein Invitational over the last two weeks, and has a top mark of 17.50 meters (57-05.00), which is tied for 22nd in the nation on the season. There will be a trio of post-collegiate competitors in Vince Mosca, John Ybarra and former Oklahoma basketball standout Kevin Bookout, while DePaul's Tim Nedow highlights the collegians with the No. 9 throw in the country at 18.14 meters (59-06.25). Other standouts include Colorado State's Tyson Williams, Iowa's Ryan Lamparek and Arizona State's Jordan Clarke.
Purdue senior Shane Crawford will be in the midst of greatness in the premier sections of the men's 100-meter dash, which will be run in two heats of nine athletes apiece. Crawford will run in lane four of the second heat, which includes Big Ten rivals Sean King of Minnesota and Paul Chaney of Iowa. The heat also features a pair of post-collegiate athletes in Lawrence Trice and Ibukun Akinremi as well as Oklahoma's Evan Pierson and Arizona State's Daniel Auberry and Giorgio Giurdanella. Several other burners will be in the field in heat one, including professionals Dwain Chambers, Marlon Devonish, Christian Malcom and Deun White and former Minnesota sprinter Ibrahim Kabia. Oklahoma's Rakieem Salaam, who had the fastest 60-meter dash of the 2011 indoor season, will make his season debut, while Big Ten rival Justin Austin will be in heat one as well.
"Including these professional and post-collegiate athletes in the competition is a great experience for our athletes," said Warner. "It gives them a chance to see greatness up-close and personal, and get a glimpse of what they should strive to be."
High school action begins Thursday at 10:30 a.m., while the collegiate competition gets underway Friday at noon with the women's premier hammer throw. The pole vault is the only other event scheduled for Friday, while events pick back up Saturday at 9 a.m. with the men's open discus. Track events will commence at 12:30 p.m. Saturday with the women's 100-meter hurdles. Arizona State will not have live results, but the complete results of each day will be posted upon the finish of the final event of the day.