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| 04-25-2003 | Previous edition: 04-24-2003 |
         
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Printer-friendly version Track stars head to Penn, Drake Relays
Staff Writer It has been nearly a month since the Purdue men and women's track and field team competed in West Lafayette. During that period, the team has made stops all over the map to locations including Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and California. That will change for the majority of the team when Purdue hosts the Boilermaker Invitational at Rankin Track and Field this Saturday. "This is the perfect time for a lot of athletes to stay at home and still get some good competition," said head coach Lissa Olson. "Our training is probably at the hardest right now while, at the same time, school is finishing up, too." This year's Boilermaker Invitational will feature 14 teams and more than 400 competitors. Some of the teams expecting to make the trip are members of Notre Dame, Indiana, Illinois, Marquette, DePaul, Ball Sate, Kent State and Valparaiso. Purdue will look to build on the success they had last weekend at the Pomona (Calif.) Pitzer. Pole-vaulter Simona Kovacic won the meet with a vault of 3.97 meters, while the men were led by the impressive effort of Robert Heise, who won the 10,000-meter run. "We have a great core of athletes getting lifetime [personal records] every week and that’s always motivating for the other athletes to step up and be a part of the success," said Olson. A select few athletes, however, will get to continue the road tradition as they travel to Philadelphia for the Penn Relays or head to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete in the Drake Relays. Penn Relays The Penn Relays is entering its 109th year and is the largest meet the Boilermakers will compete in during the outdoor season. Nearly 10,000 of the best high school, collegiate, and professional track and field athletes are entered as participants and the meet is expected to draw a huge crowd. Last year's Penn Relays brought in a total of 112,277 fans over the three days of competition and the Saturday session alone surpassed the 50,000 mark. "There is no other meet with an atmosphere like this and that includes the NCAA Championships," said Olson. What sets this meet apart from the others is the wide range of athletes that will be showcased. On Saturday there will be a USA vs. The World competition broadcast by NBC, where 150 of the best Olympic-caliber athletes will compete against each other. Aside from the Olympians, nearly every collegiate track and field powerhouse will be present. Competing at the Penn Relays for Purdue will be Shaun Guice in the championship-division high jump; Jamar Green in the championship division long jump; the 400- and 800-meter relay teams and the throwers. The throwers will be represented well with Scott Hecht, Keith McBride, J.P. Smolenski, and Igor Kirin in the championship division of the hammer throw — the better of the two college divisions — and Nedzad Mulabegovic competing for the first time this year in the championship division of the shot put. The 400-meter relay team of Kenneth Baxter, Jamar Green, Jacques Reeves and Prentice Stovall will look to build on their success from last season's Penn Relays, where they won the collegiate division. This year, they have graduated to the championship division, where they will run against the nation's elite relay teams, including the top three from Mississippi State, Houston and LSU. Drake Relays According to Olson, the Drake Relays are not as big as Penn, but they will attract a crowd of around 20,000 people. Traveling to Iowa for the Boilermakers will be junior thrower Tiffany Britten and junior hurdler Krissy Liphardt. Britten is coming off of a solid weekend at the Indy Relays where she won the shot put with a throw of 44-8 3/4. "Tiffany was one centimeter away from qualifying for the Regional Championships with that throw," said Olson. Liphardt is in the same situation, as she is one-hundredth of a second away from qualifying for the Regional Championships. "This is a great meet for both of them because it will give them people who can compete with them," said Olson The women's team was planning on sending more athletes, but injuries hampered them from doing so. Junior Kim Jordan sprained her ankle in California last week and sophomore sprinter Ragina Harvey is recovering from a strained hamstring. Printer-friendly version |
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