IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Purdue cross country teams are set to being the championship portion of their season on Sunday in Iowa City, Iowa. The Boilermakers travel 10 men and 10 women for the 100th Big Ten Championships. The races will be held at the Ashton Cross Country Course, beginning at 11:45 a.m. ET with the women's 6,000-meter race. The men's 8,000-meter championships will follow at 12:45.
"The Big Ten is a very tough conference, but we just need to trust our fitness and run to our strengths," assistant coach Jeff Kent said. "We are a good pack-running team and hopefully we can have some big sticks to help us out. We are capable of matching last year's results even though the conference is getting so much stronger."
On the men's side, Matthew McClintock has led the Boilermakers all season. A year ago, he finished runner-up at the conference championships, which were held in West Lafayette, Ind. McClintock is coming off a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet two weeks ago, where he ran an 8,000-meter time of 24:16.7. McClintock will be joined by freshman David Dalton, who has had a solid rookie season. Caleb Kerr will compete after running in the Illinois Open last weekend. Kerr was the top finisher at that race among scoring individuals, and took third overall.
John Ribeiro and Dillon Hinen are also among the travelling Boilermakers. Hinen was Purdue's second finisher at the Pre-Nationals race, after turning in a time of 25:38.5. Jeremy Craven was Purdue's third finisher at Pre-Nationals. The freshman ran a time of 25:51.5, and will be among those vying to score for Purdue. Andrew Cartwright, Patrick Dalton, Alex Milner and Tyler Wynn will also make the trip.
On the women's side, the Boilermakers will be led by Hope Schmelzle and Katie Hoevet. Schmelzle has been among Purdue's top finisher all season, and had the top time for the Boilermakers her last time out. She ran a 22:03.1 in the 6,000-meter race at Pre-Nationals. Michelle Potter had the second-fastest time among Boilermakers at the Pre-Nationals race. The sophomore will be among the Boilermakers' lineup on Sunday.
Freshmen Gabrielle Broschard, Kendall Hacker and Abigail Hostetler will all make the trip. The three have provided solid depth throughout the season, including a win in the open race at Purdue's only home meet of the season by Hostetler. Kristin Fritts was a scorer at the Big Ten Championships last season. She has had another solid season and looks to be among the top of Purdue's lineup at the championships. Also scheduled to make the trip are Desarae Diedrich, Sharise Lund and Kiara McIntosh.
"If we can go in and trust ourselves, I think we will be pleased with the results," Kent said. "Kendall is kind of our darkhorse on the women's side. I told her to go out there and compete and enjoy the environment. For the men, we need to push up the results. We need some guys to finish in the top 50, which will get us where we need to be. We need to surrender to the moment. We can't let the outside distractions get in the way, because we have worked hard all year long. If we embrace it, the results will take care of themselves."
At last season's Big Ten Championships, the men's team finished sixth, while the women were eighth in the conference. The men's finish was the program's best since 1991, while the women's finish was the best since 2007. Purdue's men finished with 163 points, while the women's tally was 221.
For updates throughout the race, follow @PurdueTrackXC on Twitter. Updates will include pictures, places and times throughout both races. A full recap of the day's action will be posted to PurdueSports.com following the completion of both races.