WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue cross country team is back in action after three weeks off and the Boilermakers are set to host their only home meet of the season. Purdue will battle for state supremacy, as it hosts the Indiana Intercollegiates for the first time since 2010. The women will run a 5,000-meter race, while the men are schedule for to run a distance of 8,000-meters.
"This is something we last hosted nearly five years ago, so this is a great opportunity for the men and women to showcase the work they did this summer," first year assistant cross country and distance coach Jeff Kent said. "The teams definitely did their homework this summer and I'm excited to get going. We shook the cobwebs out down in Nashville, and this will be a good chance to toe the line for the first time and get in full gear."
The Boilermakers are set to host 29 other women's teams and 26 other men's teams from around the Crossroads State. The region's top-seeded men's team, the Indiana Hoosiers, will be in attendance. Indiana won last year's meet, which it hosted. Butler is ranked fourth in the Great Lakes Region and will also compete. The Boilermakers sit in eighth regionally, while IUPUI is 11th. Indiana State is competing and is ranked 13th in the Great Lakes Region. Indiana is seventh in the country in the latest USTFCCCA rankings, while Butler is receiving votes.
On the women's side, Butler is the top regional team competing in the meet, as the Bulldogs are third. Indiana is seventh in the Great Lakes Region, while Purdue is 11th. The Bulldogs are ranked 11th in the nation.
Purdue will be led on the men's side by junior All-American Matthew McClintock. McClintock finished third in the season-opening 5,000-meter race, the Belmont Opener. Last season at the Indiana Intercollegiates, the Athens, Maine, native finished second overall. McClintock will be up against last year's champion, John Mascari from Indiana State, who won by 23 seconds. He will try to help Purdue improve upon its second place finish from last season, when the Boilermakers finished with 64 points.
On the women's side, Hope Schmelzle and Kiara McIntosh will be among the leaders for the young Boilermakers. Both have made significant improvements in the last month, according to Kent, and will have their first opportunity to showcase it on Friday. The Boilermakers finished second last season with 55 points, and Laura Maibuecher is the top returning finisher from that race.
The women's open 5k is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET at the Boilermaker Cross Country Course, the site of last season's Big Ten Championships. The men's open 8k will begin at 4:15 p.m. The championship races begin at 5 p.m. with the women's 5k, and the men's championships 8k will follow at 5:45.
"I want to see improvement from both squads," Kent added. "I want to see us start to build consistency and continuity, where we will have good races, not just tomorrow, but down the line. I want to see us move forward without taking steps backwards. We have had a month to see where we are physically, and a lot of people have improved their confidence. I am very excited to see what this group can do tomorrow."
Results from all four races will be posted to PurdueSports.com.
Purdue is slated to nine men and nine women in the championship races. The Boilermakers will have 20 women and 10 men in the open races.
Purdue's Championship Race Entrants
Men Women
Andrew Cartwright Gabrielle Broschard
Jeremy Craven Desarae Diedrich
David Dalton Kristin Fritts
Ben Eaton Katie Hoevet
Dillon Hinen Laura Maibuecher
Caleb Kerr Kiara McIntosh
Harlow Ladd Michelle Potter
Matthew McClintock Amy Poynter
Tate Schienbein Hope Schmelzle