BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana/Purdue Dual was decided by 0.001 of a second on the women's side Saturday afternoon at Gladstein Fieldhouse on Indiana's campus. After trailing by half a step in the final straightaway, Hope Schmelzle outkicked the Hoosiers' Brittany Neeley to give Purdue the five points and secure a 72-64 victory. The final 100m of the race, plus the celebration, can be seen at the bottom of the page.
"It was good to come away with a split," said head coach Lonnie Greene. "We knew we had the better women's team, but they put up a valiant fight. I thought the men would be closer, but this is just week two. We just need to go back to work. I am very excited about where we are programmatically at this present time. We just have to keep our heads down and continue to work, and I believe the end result at the end of the day will be a good one."
Kiara McIntosh led off the 4x800m and gave the Boilermakers a slim lead through the first leg of the deciding race. She handed the stick to Vanessa McLeod who ran a strong leg and gave the Boilermakers a 15 to 20 meter lead, before handing off to Katie Hoevet. Hoevet, who had earlier finished second in the mile behind Neeley, kept the Boilermakers within a step of the Hoosiers before handing the baton to Schmelzle.
Schmelzle stayed in about the same spot through the first 700 meters, about a step behind Neeley. Then came the big finish. Schmelzle, who Neeley had beaten in the mile by 2.24 seconds earlier in the day, found her kick and caught up at the line as both threw themselves across. From there, both Schmelzle and Neeley were down on the track as the all eyes turned to the scoreboard. The crowd waited 34 seconds before the scoreboard showed Purdue's winning time of 8:57.19. It was another couple of minutes before Indiana's identical runner-up time was posted on the scoreboard, but the official result was that Purdue's time was 0.001 of a second faster.
"I knew that Neeley was going to be hard to outkick," Schmelzle said. "I knew it was going to come down to guts. I'm glad it got to be against her because she was a high school state champion and a great runner. As I was lying on the ground, I was nervous and scared because I knew it was close and I wasn't sure who won. I just kind of laid there and tried to figure out what happened as I replayed the finish in my mind. I didn't see the scoreboard, but I heard the screams and I saw Coach Goodman and Katie Hoevet get excited and I knew we must have done it. All my emotions hit me at the same time, tired, excited, relieved and just overjoyed."
The women entered the final two events, the 4x400m and 4x800m relay needing to win both, after Indiana led 64-62, because relay scoring gives five points to the winner and no other points. The 4x4 team of Taylor Dunlap, Aarin Jones, Megan Paul and Symone Black took care of business by breaking the meet record with a time of 3:44.74 to win by nearly five and a half seconds and set up the dramatic finish.
Elsewhere on the women's side, Carmiesha Cox shattered the school record, as well as the meet record, in the 200m dash with a time of 24.09 seconds. Her time currently ranks 16th in the country and second in the Big Ten. Cox also took fourth in the 60m dash with a time of 7.63 seconds. Cox `s teammate, and former 200m school record holder, and fellow Bahamian sophomore Devynne Charlton also had a good day in the sprints for the Boilermakers. Charlton won the 60m dash with a meet record time of 7.55 seconds. She followed that performance up by breaking her previous meet record in the 60m hurdles, with a first place time of 8.38 seconds.
Other winners on the women's side included Savannah Carson in the long jump and Vania Anane in the triple jump, who leapt an indoor best 12.17m (39-11.25). Elizabeth Iversen took the top spot in the shot put with a PR. She threw 14.39m (47-2.50) to win by two feet. Iversen also had a PR in the weight throw where she took third. Dunlap won the 400m dash by breaking her previous indoor PR by 1.26 seconds. Her time of 56.26 seconds is also a new meet record.
The women had several other strong performances. Brionna Thomas ran the sixth-fastest 200m dash time in school history, posting a third place finish with a time of 24.61 seconds. That time was faster than any other 200m time at the meet prior to this year. Jacqueline Williams took second in the pole vault after clearing 3.86m (12-8.00).
On the men's side, the Hoosiers defeated the Boilermakers 80-55. Purdue did have several bright spots, including an exciting relay finish of their own. The 4x400m relay team battled with the Hoosiers the entire race, especially down the stretch where the team of Chris Arvia, Obokhare Ikpefan, Nicholas Parks and Kendal Frederick outkicked to the line and won by 0.27 of a second with a time of 3:13.03, a new meet record.
Byron Ferrell had a good day in the pole vault, winning with a clearance of 4.86m (15-11.25). The men's throwers were also impressive, as the Boilermakers swept the shot put, including Chukwuebuka Enekwechi's top mark of 18.50m (60-8.25). Jordan Roos had a huge PR, and is now just over a foot outside the top eight in Purdue school history, as he finished second with a throw of 18.24m (59-10.00). Luke Lewis took third with a best of 17.07m (56-00.00). Enekwechi also won the weight throw, while Caleb Fricke had a PR to take third with a mark of 18.43m (60-5.50).
The Boilermaker men went 1-2 in the 400m dash. Frederick and Ikpefan both posted times of 48.61 seconds, while Frederick got the first place finish by thousandths of a second.
The Boilermakers return to action next weekend at the Notre Dame Invite.