IU track, field fall to Purdue

The IU track and field team arrived in West Lafayette on Saturday afternoon expecting a close battle, and Purdue gave it one.

The Boilermakers edged out the Hoosiers by a total score  of 70-65 for the men and 72-64 for the women, giving Purdue its first dual meet win against IU since 2008.
IU claimed the top prize in 14 of the 32 events.

“When the score is that close, all it takes is for us to a get a third instead of them getting a third, and that’s a two-point swing,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said.

Purdue swept IU in the women’s 60-meter dash, the women’s hurdles, the men’s 200-meter dash and the men’s shot put.

Helmer said the clean sweeps weren’t the problem, but rather IU’s collective inability to compete in close events.

“We just weren’t willing to fight hard enough for those very obtainable points that would have made the difference,” Helmer said.

Though their fight may not have been enough to secure a victory Saturday, the Hoosiers had several stand-out performances, including four athletes with top 10 program marks.

IU’s performance was headlined by its distance runners, who proved their talents by sweeping the men’s mile, men’s 3,000-meter run, women’s mile and women’s 3,000.

Freshman Jason Crist, who led IU’s winning trio for the mile across the finish line, was one of many athletes whom Helmer cited for their strong, competitive performance.
“What I saw today was some depth and talent from the men’s distance runners that will allow them to make their mark at the national level moving forward,” he said.

On the women’s side, IU dominated the field events, taking the top three spots in both the pole vault and the high jump.

Sophomore Sophie Gutermuth’s vault of 3.95 matched the fourth-best in school history, and freshman Danielle Quinn’s 12.11 triple jump was sixth-best all time for the Hoosiers.

“What excited me most on the girl’s side was watching our freshmen compete,” Helmer said. “Very quickly there are six or seven freshmen girls who have what it takes to give us a bright future.”

Other winning athletes for the Hoosiers include La Toya Williams (200), Samantha Ginther (mile), Samantha Ginther (3,000), Sarah Maxson (high jump) and Arianne Nelson (long jump).

IU’s first-place finishers on the men’s side were Tretez Kinniard (600-meter run), Jordan Gornall (800-meter run), Rorey Hunter (3,000), Stephen Keller (high jump), Drew Volz (pole vault), Richard Rouse Jr. (triple jump) and the men’s 4-by-800-meter relay team.

Follow reporter Tori Ziege on Twitter @ToriZiege.