April 29, 2011
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Purdue track and field teams put forth another group of solid efforts at the second day of the 117th edition of The Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, as the Boilermaker men joined the women for a day of competition. Purdue seniors Shane Crawford and Bill Hardcastle had the top efforts of the day, posting close to their season-best marks in their respective events.
Boilermaker senior Shane Crawford had his second straight outstanding showing in the men's 100-meter dash, running the second fastest preliminary mark at 10.38 seconds to advance to Saturday's College Championship final. Crawford topped six individuals that have faster marks on the national list this season and looks to go after the Boilermaker record of 10.30 seconds in tomorrow's finals at 3:55 p.m.
Fellow senior Bill Hardcastle had a pair of good performances in the throws, taking sixth in the College Championship division of the men's shot put and taking third in the College division of the men's discus. Hardcastle threw just shy of his season-best mark in the shot put, hurling it 17.97 meters (58-11.50) and finishing as the No. 2 Big Ten athlete in the field, just behind current conference leader Joe Kovacs of Penn State. Hardcastle went on to throw 52.71 meters (172-11) in the discus, just a quarter of a meter short of his season best. Sophomore teammate Jakob Engel was just shy of his career best in the College division of the men's shot put, throwing 17.14 meters (56-02.75) to place second.
Freshman Seth Virgil turned in a career-best in the College division of the men's long jump, bouncing 7.39 meters (24-03.00) to finish fourth overall, while senior teammate Chris Kirtz was 11th at 7.21 meters (23-08.00).
The Purdue women competed in a relay and two field events on Friday as juniors Elise Glass and Janan Graham and freshmen Ebony Woodard and Taylor Morrison had a solid showing in the 4x200-meter relay, while senior Emily Breslin earned sixth in the College Championship high jump and junior Terri Anderson and senior Stacey Wannemacher were eighth and ninth in the College Championship discus. The Boilermakers kept up a solid relay effort at Penn in the 4x200, taking 14th with a time of 1:38.09 in the 59-team field, Breslin cleared 1.75 meters (5-08.75) in the high jump and Anderson and Wannemacher threw 47.70 meters (156-05) and 44.42 meters (145-08), respectively.
The Boilermakers wrap up competition at Penn tomorrow with a pair of relays and a few individual events, while the rest of the Purdue squad will get things underway at the Butler Stan Lyons Invitational.