May 27, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams tacked on two more national qualifiers at the second day of the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championship East Preliminary Rounds, hosted by Indiana University at Robert C. Haugh Track Complex on Friday. The Boilermakers now have five total bids for the national meet, scheduled for June 8-11 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Senior Emily Breslin became the fourth Boilermaker to advance to nationals, securing her second consecutive bid in the women's high jump. It was an up-and-down day as she had a miss at 1.70 meters and two at 1.75 meters, but powered through to clear both 1.78 and 1.81 meters (5-11.50) on second attempts to lock up a trip to Des Moines.
Fellow senior Stacey Wannemacher had the highlight of the day, breaking her own school record and earning her fourth trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a throw of 16.99 meters (55-09.00). She cruised to the finals with a preliminary toss of 16.29 meters, broke the record a first time with a throw of 16.61 meters on her first mark of the finals and popped her standout mark on her final toss, good for the third-best toss of the day. Freshman teammate Dani Bunch came up just shy of following Wannemacher to nationals, reaching the finals, but finishing 14th with her career-best mark of 15.72 meters (51-07.00). Bunch climbs to third all-time in Purdue's outdoor shot put history, surpassing former Boilermaker Tiffany Britten and teammate Terri Anderson.
Boilermaker senior and school record-holder Shane Crawford narrowly missed advancing to nationals in the men's 100-meter dash, finishing 13th in the quarterfinals by 0.01 seconds with a time of 10.44. Crawford won the Big Ten Championship two weeks ago and shattered the Purdue record with a time of 10.18 seconds, and moved through the first round yesterday, but came up just shy in Friday's quarterfinals. Classmate Jacob Palmer suffered a similar fate in the men's 800-meter run, advancing to Friday's quarterfinals, but finishing 19th with a time of 1:50.72.
Senior Chris Thoman had the best showing of the four Boilermaker qualifiers in the men's pole vault, clearing 5.15 meters (16-10.75) to place 15th and just miss a trip to nationals. Freshman Mitch Erickson cleared 5.05 meters (16-06.75), while sophomores Zack Saunders and Kyle Campbell were unable to clear the opening height of 4.90 meters (16-00.75).
The Boilermakers wrap up preliminary competition tomorrow with the final day of the East qualifiers, starting the day at 11 a.m. with the women's discus. Junior Terri Anderson enters the meet with the No. 13 mark in the East at 52.96 meters (173-07).