June 26, 2011
EUGENE, Ore. - The Purdue men's and women's track and field programs had an outstanding showing at the 2011 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships over the week, hosted at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field Thursday through Sunday. Boilermaker alumnus Kara Patterson defended her USA crown in the women's javelin throw, and sophomore Geoff Davis set a new personal record in the men's high jump to lead the way.
A 2008 Olympian for the United States and two-time All-American for Purdue, Patterson needed only one throw to win her fourth straight USA Championship on Saturday. Throwing first in the competition, she uncorked a top toss of 59.34 meters (194-08) right off the bat and unknowingly won the event in dominant fashion. Her closest competitor was Nike representative Rachel Yurkovich, who threw just 54.91 meters (180-02), and all three of Patterson's fair throws would have won the event, also marking 56.23 meters (184-05) and 58.20 meters (190-11). The win, along with her season-best mark of 62.76 meters (205-11), qualifies Patterson for the 2011 World Championships, set for August 27 to September 4 in Daegu, Korea.
Davis had a great effort in his first career USA Track and Field Championships, clearing a career-best mark of 2.24 meters (7-04.25) and finishing ninth in the elite field. He was third amongst the seven collegiate competitors on the day, following 2011 NCAA Outdoor Champion Erik Kynard of Kansas State and national runner-up Ricky Robertson of Mississippi, who both cleared 2.28 meters (7-05.75). Davis's jump is the second-best outdoor mark in Purdue's history, falling just a centimeter shy of the all-time mark of 2.25 meters (7-04.50) set by Dave Glassburn in 1987.
Recent Boilermaker graduates Stacey Wannemacher and Shane Crawford competed as well at the national meet as Wannemacher finished 10th in the women's shot put and Crawford was 33rd in the men's 100-meter dash. Wannemacher tossed her best of three throws on her first attempt on Thursday, marking 16.67 meters (54-08.50), which is just shy of her career-best, Purdue-record mark. She finished 34 centimeters short of making the finals in the event, needing a toss of 17.01 meters (55-09.34) for advancement. Crawford got only one race in the national meet, posting a time of 10.57 seconds in the preliminary heats to finish seventh in his heat. It required a blazing mark of 10.28 seconds to advance to the semifinals, 10.09 to move on to the finals, and Nike's Walter Dix took the national crown with a wind-legal time of 9.94.