The Boilermakers are sending just 10 athletes to Indiana on Friday.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue men’s and women’s track and field teams have their final opportunity to prepare for the postseason on Friday, heading down the road to archrival Indiana University for the Billy Hayes Invitational. The Boilermakers have just four entries on the men’s side and six on the women’s side for the meet, which begins tomorrow at 2 p.m.
The Boilermakers have been making a late-season trip to Bloomington for the last 10 years, turning in several solid performances, including sophomore Simon Rogers’ NCAA East Preliminary qualifying race in the men’s 1,500-meter run. Rogers ran the third-fastest time in school history, completing the race in 3:46.41.
Senior Bill Hardcastle, junior Josh Lee, sophomore Jakob Engel and freshman Brandon Winters make up the Purdue men’s entries, led by Hardcastle who’s set to compete in the shot put and discus. He owns the No. 4 mark in the Big Ten and No. 18 throw in the nation in the shot put at 18.14 meters (59-06.25), and sits ninth in the conference standings in the discus at 52.96 meters (173-09).
Lee will run the 400-meter dash, Engel joins Hardcastle in the shot put, while Winters will run the 110-meter hurdles. Winters sits seventh in the Big Ten at 14.21 seconds and Engel is 11th in the Big Ten with his season-best mark of 17.21 meters (56-05.75).
On the women’s side, junior Morgan Monroe is the only track entry, set to run in the 400-meter hurdles, while fellow juniors Terri Anderson, Elaine Gilbert and Laura Grabowski, sophomore Kylie Hermanson and freshman Liberty Sliden will compete in the throws.
Anderson has the top marks of the group, ranking 10th in the Big Ten in the shot put with a mark of 14.78 meters (48-06.00) and fourth in the conference and 21st in the country in the discus at 52.92 meters (173-07).
Slinden is just behind Anderson in the shot put, sitting 12th at 14.59 meters (47-10.50), while Hermanson, Gilbert and Grabowski head into the weekend 12th, 13th and 14th in the Big Ten in the javelin.
