SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Purdue men’s and women’s track and field teams wrapped up a solid performance at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational, hosted by the Fighting Irish this weekend at the Loftus Sports Center.
The Boilermakers swept the shot put events on Saturday as senior Bill Hardcastle won his fourth consecutive meet on the men’s side, while freshman Dani Bunch topped the women’s field in an impressive team effort in the event.
Hardcastle took on a highly-touted field on Saturday, including the nation’s No. 6 thrower in DePaul’s Tim Nedow and 18th-ranked Cody Riffle of Michigan.
However, the Boilermaker senior prevailed for his fourth straight contest in the shot put, tossing an indoor career-best mark of 18.27 meters (59-11.25) to best the meet. The mark lifts Hardcastle to fifth best in the Big Ten this season and ties him for the 14th longest throw in NCAA Division I this year.
Following their outstanding effort in the weight throw on Friday, the Boilermaker women dominated the shot put on Saturday, led by Bunch’s meet-winning toss of 15.47 meters (50-09.25). Senior Stacey Wannemacher and junior Terri Anderson followed closely in fourth and sixth place as Wannemacher marked 15.32 meters (50-03.25), while Anderson tossed a season-best 14.98 meters (49-01.75). Wannemacher’s mark was just shy of her top mark of the season and Anderson’s new best lifted her to eighth in the conference standings this year.
Purdue sophomore Geoff Davis took at shot at the NCAA automatic qualifying mark (2.24m/7-04.25) for his third straight meet, but came up just shy finishing second to 2010 NCAA Indoor Championship runner-up Ricky Robertson.
Davis came into the competition at 2.07 meters (6-09.50) and was clean all the way up to his final clearance of 2.18 meters (7-02.00), giving him three straight meets over at least that height. Both Davis and Robertson chose to pass at 2.21 meters, going straight to the automatic qualifying height where Robertson cleared on his first attempt to win the competition.
Senior Shane Crawford kept his time in the men’s 60-meter dash fairly consistent, putting forth a time of 6.82 seconds to finish fourth in the finals. Crawford ran 6.81 seconds in yesterday’s preliminaries and his top time of 6.78 seconds this season is good for fifth in the Big Ten this season.
Other top performances on the women’s side on Saturday came from sophomores Camille Buscomb and Kari Shoolbraid, junior Janan Graham and senior NaTasha Blair.
Buscomb finished eighth in the women’s Mile Meyo Run, crossing the line in 4:52.08, while Shoolbraid ran a personal record in the 800-meter run for the second straight meet with a time of 2:11.83. Graham and Blair turned in career bests in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 56.68 and 56.72, respectively.
The Boilermakers wrap up their regular-season road schedule next weekend, heading to Allendale, Mich. for the Grand Valley State University Big Meet.
Purdue has a great line up in the throws this year. It will be interesting to watch them through the outdoor season.