Day 1 Results
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Sarah Loesch headlined the opening day of the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships with the most explosive performance of her career, shattering a Purdue record and receiving third-place. In addition, Curt Eckstein tallied a third-place finish and the Boilermakers sent three 200-meter runners to Sunday's finals.
Loesch opened the hammer throw with a bang. In her first throw of the preliminary round, she secured the Purdue program record and a nation's top 10 mark with 62.27-meters. After breaking the 12-year-old school record, Loesch went on to post another two would-be Boilermaker-bests with her third throw: a monstrous 62.09-meters and her fourth throw (61.96-meters). All but one of Loesch's attempts beat her personal-best heading into the day.
Also receiving a bronze medal and six team points was Eckstein. With his time of 29:40.05, the sophomore earned the No. 8 spot in the Boilermaker record books and was just the third runner in 17 years to cross the finish line under 29:41.00 minutes.
Samson Colebrooke ran a 20.51 second 200-meter dash to become the fastest Boilermaker in the event in 14 years. The finals qualifying time was the second overall fastest at the championships and ties the No. 19-fastest time in the nation this year. Furthermore, Colebrooke's sprint ranks him as the third-fastest Boilermaker the program has ever seen. Teammate Waseem Williams will join Colebrooke in the finals with a qualifying time of 20.77 seconds.
Camille Christopher was the third Boilermaker to earn a spot in the 200-meter finals. Christopher improved upon her personal-best, tying Boilermakers Sybil Perry (1983) and Jamie McNeair (1989) with a time of 23.74 for No. 7 in the Purdue record books. While Christopher will look to add team points in the event finals Sunday, she will also be running qualifiers Saturday in the 100-meter dash.
In the men's javelin, Michael Weller placed fourth with a throw of 67.23-meters. Like Loesch, Weller's best mark came on the first attempt of the day. Weller held on to third-place throughout the majority of the event, however in the final round he was edged out of a medal with the event-winning mark coming in the final throws of the day.
In total, Purdue added four marks to the Purdue all-time performance list.
Action will resume Saturday at the Francis X. Cretzmeyer Track beginning at 10:45 a.m. ET. Fans can watch the events live on BTN Plus and FloTrack. Sunday's final events will air via tape delay on BTN on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Sarah Loesch headlined the opening day of the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships with the most explosive performance of her career, shattering a Purdue record and receiving third-place. In addition, Curt Eckstein tallied a third-place finish and the Boilermakers sent three 200-meter runners to Sunday's finals.
Loesch opened the hammer throw with a bang. In her first throw of the preliminary round, she secured the Purdue program record and a nation's top 10 mark with 62.27-meters. After breaking the 12-year-old school record, Loesch went on to post another two would-be Boilermaker-bests with her third throw: a monstrous 62.09-meters and her fourth throw (61.96-meters). All but one of Loesch's attempts beat her personal-best heading into the day.
Also receiving a bronze medal and six team points was Eckstein. With his time of 29:40.05, the sophomore earned the No. 8 spot in the Boilermaker record books and was just the third runner in 17 years to cross the finish line under 29:41.00 minutes.
Samson Colebrooke ran a 20.51 second 200-meter dash to become the fastest Boilermaker in the event in 14 years. The finals qualifying time was the second overall fastest at the championships and ties the No. 19-fastest time in the nation this year. Furthermore, Colebrooke's sprint ranks him as the third-fastest Boilermaker the program has ever seen. Teammate Waseem Williams will join Colebrooke in the finals with a qualifying time of 20.77 seconds.
Camille Christopher was the third Boilermaker to earn a spot in the 200-meter finals. Christopher improved upon her personal-best, tying Boilermakers Sybil Perry (1983) and Jamie McNeair (1989) with a time of 23.74 for No. 7 in the Purdue record books. While Christopher will look to add team points in the event finals Sunday, she will also be running qualifiers Saturday in the 100-meter dash.
In the men's javelin, Michael Weller placed fourth with a throw of 67.23-meters. Like Loesch, Weller's best mark came on the first attempt of the day. Weller held on to third-place throughout the majority of the event, however in the final round he was edged out of a medal with the event-winning mark coming in the final throws of the day.
In total, Purdue added four marks to the Purdue all-time performance list.
Action will resume Saturday at the Francis X. Cretzmeyer Track beginning at 10:45 a.m. ET. Fans can watch the events live on BTN Plus and FloTrack. Sunday's final events will air via tape delay on BTN on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.