June 22, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field teams will have ample representation at the 2011 U.S.A. Championships, set for Thursday, through Sunday, June 23-26, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. In addition to 2008 Olympian and two-time All-American Kara Patterson, 2011 Boilermakers Stacey Wannemacher, Shane Crawford and Geoff Davis have qualified as well and are set to compete against the nation's best.
Patterson looks to defend her national crown on Saturday at 12:50 p.m. (PT), after winning the USA Championship in 2010 and setting the American record with a mark of 66.67 meters (218-09). She has won several national and international meets since her departure from West Lafayette, including the Prefontaine Classic and the Drake Relays, and is a competitor in the prestigious Samsung Diamond League Series, contested all over the world. Patterson heads to the competition with the No. 1 qualifying mark at 62.76 meters (205-11).
A recent Purdue graduate and three-time All-American, Wannemacher takes her first trip to the national championship meet, qualifying with a `B' Standard mark of 16.99 meters (55-09.00). Her career best throw set cracked her own Purdue outdoor record and earned a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships as she tossed the No. 3 mark at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds at Indiana University on May 27. Wannemacher has the No. 14 qualifying mark in the field, which is led by Jillian Camarena-Williams at 19.76 meters (64-10.00), and will compete on Thursday at 6:20 p.m. (PT).
The lone Boilermaker track entry at the USA Championships will be 2011 graduate Shane Crawford, who will run in the men's 100-meter dash qualifier at 5:40 p.m. (PT) on Thursday. Crawford surpassed the "A" standard, smashed the Purdue record and won a Big Ten Championship with his time of 10.18 seconds at the University of Iowa on May 15. He is tied for the No. 24 qualifying mark heading into the meet and will run in an impressive field which includes Tyson Gay, Walter Dix and Justin Gatlin.
Davis is the only Purdue USA Championships entry who has eligibility to return to the Boilermakers in 2012, coming off an outstanding sophomore campaign for the Old Gold and Black. He captured All-America honors both indoors and outdoors, tying for fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships and placing sixth at the outdoor national meet, and cleared a top mark of 2.23 meters (7-03.75) at the 2011 Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 27. He is tied for the 14th-best mark in the country heading into this week's competition, set to jump on Sunday at 12:20 p.m. (PT). There are four athletes with qualifying marks over 2.30 meters (7-06.50), including Jesse Williams, who owns the top mark at 2.34 meters (7-08.00), and 2011 NCAA Outdoor Champion Erik Kynard of Kansas State, who cleared 2.33 meters (7-07.75).
For more information on the 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, visit the official website here, and follow the hashtag: #USACHAMPS on Twitter. Television coverage of the event will air live on Friday at 11 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2, and on Saturday and Sunday on Universal and NBC, starting on Universal at 3 p.m. (ET) and moving to NBC at 5 p.m. (ET).