Friday Results
SAN ANTONIO - The Boilermakers won three events on the opening day of the outdoor season. The team competed in the hammer throw, shot put, javelin and 5,000-meter run on the first day of the two-day UTSA Invitational.
Sarah Loesch and Micaela Hazlewood were the first to compete and finished first and second, respectively, in the women's hammer throw. Loesch threw a personal-record toss of 57.55 meters (188-10) on her final attempt, which gave her the lead. Her throw moves her into the top 10 in program history for the first time and sits eighth. Hazlewood was just behind her with a mark of 57.38m (188-3). Alisha Bahler took fourth in the event with a throw of 56.39m (185-0). That distance was just 11 centimeters (four inches) shy of her PR. Jessica DelBovo had a PR and threw a distance of 51.76m (169-10) to finish seventh. That mark was eight feet, one inch better than her previous best.
Luke Lewis won the shot put in his first outdoor event of the year. The junior threw a distance of 17.61m (57-9.25), which is within a foot of his best mark from last outdoor season. Lewis won by four inches.
Jeremy Craven was the other winner Friday. He competed in the 5,000-meter run and had an outdoor PR to open the season. Craven won with a time of 14:44.87, nearly nine seconds better than teammate Matt Grider who was second with a time of 14:53.24. Craven's time was a PR by 1.37 seconds. Jacob Hanawalt took third in the race with a time of 14:56.25, while Ben Mohrdieck was sixth after finishing in 15:22.94.
The men's javelin group had a strong opener to the 2017 season. Redshirt freshman Michael Weller was the top Boilermaker and finished third overall with a toss of 61.87m (203-0). His mark came on his final throw of the competition. He is already within one foot, inches of Purdue's all-time top-10 list. Brad Hoselton had a PR and finished fifth in the event. He threw 60.30m (197-10), which came on his opening throw. Christopher Hunnewell seventh, finishing with a mark of 56.63m (185-10), a PR by 16 feet, two inches.
Bahler, Hazlewood and Loesch were also in the shot put. Bahler finished third with a throw of 14.62m (47-11.50), while Hazlewood was fourth with a throw of 14.16m (46-5.50). Loesch, competing in her first collegiate shot put competition, was eighth with a throw of 13.58m (44-6.75). Rebecca Coan also competed and finished ninth with a mark of 11.84m (38-10.25).
In the men's hammer throw, Lewis took fourth with a throw of 56.36m (184-11), a personal best. Caleb Fricke was fifth with a throw of 54.26m (178-0), also a personal best.
The Boilermakers will be busy Saturday with the second day of the meet. Action starts at noon ET. Live results can be found on Twitter @PurdueTrackXC.