Track team wins first Big
Ten indoor title
By Greg Doddridge
Staff
Writer
The Big Ten Championship came down to the final
event — Sunday's 1,600—meter relay.
Purdue won the race in a season best time of 3:42.91
and captured its first indoor conference title, beating Ohio State and
Indiana 108—97—89.5.
"It feels good to win it," said senior Angela Craft,
who ran a leg of the 1,600. "We weren't supposed to win this meet. It
feels good to upset some people and win it."
Before the 1,600 relay, Purdue was leading Ohio
State by the margin of 98—93. An Ohio State win with a Boiler finish
of fifth or worse would result in the Buckeyes winning the championship.
But the team, which also included Angie Anoliefoh, Kim Jordan and Kristin
Liphardt, was determined not to fail.
"Our coach said if (the Buckeyes) wanted to win
the meet, they would have to win it through us," said Craft, who also
contributed 10 points to the team by winning the pentathlon on Saturday.
"We just went out there and did what we could do. We weren't really
concerned about Ohio State though."
Coach Ben Paolillo, who was named the Big Ten Coach
of the Year, said, "It feels even better than on Saturday. I used a
lot of adjectives to describe it Saturday and I don't have any left.
I'm kind of speechless. We figured coming into this meet 85 or 90 points
and we ended up with 108. It was unbelievable."
Sophomore Teresa Kamleiter contributed to the championship
in the 5,000-meter run. She came from fifth place mid—race to take
third with a personal best time of 16:51.57, earning the team six points
and barely missing the provisional NCAA qualification time by 1.5 seconds.
All that in a race she has not run once in competition this indoor season.
"It's exciting not really having the pressure of
having to get a certain time," said Kamleiter. "I knew I wanted to place.
I had no idea it would be third place. My goal was to turn 17:10 and
I knew from practices that I was strong. I was pumped for this race.
I have been trying to focus on this race."
Paolillo said Kamleiter's win was huge because
Purdue hasn't been strong in distance events the past few years.
"The distance for years hasn't necessarily been
able to contribute because they haven't run well enough," he said. "But
they really came through this weekend as did everybody else."
Kamleiter also ran the first leg of Purdue's distance
medley winning team.
The pole—vaulters contributed strongly on
Saturday, taking 28 points in that event. Junior Amy Spellmeyer won
with a vault of 12—11 1/2, followed by juniors Elisabeth Metzinger
and Katie Rorem. Senior Katie Meyer took fifth.
"We are very happy with our one—two—three—five
finish because compared to last year, we got five more extra points,"
said Spellmeyer, the two—time indoor pole vault champion. "It's
very important. It's so close and every point counts. Just the fact
that we were able to get five extra that we didn't have last year is
a big help."
Another event where help was provided in the form
of points was the 20-pound weight throw.
Senior Serene Ross, sophomore Cynthia Bortz and
junior Lisa Davis gave Purdue nine points in the event. Bortz and Davis
had personal bests in their throws on Sunday.
"Right after we got off to that great start in
the weight throw, you could just feel the energy," said Paolillo.
Senior Tina Johnson and junior Janelle Johnson
gave Purdue seven points in the triple jump.
Junior Kristin Liphardt said she ran as good of
a race as she could have as she took the 400-meter dash in 54.89, six
tenths of a second faster than her preliminary heat time.
Now that the Boilers have won the Big Ten Indoor
Championship, Liphardt said Purdue knows it is now able to win big meets.
"Now that we are on a roll, we know that we are
capable of actually doing it," she said. "It's easy to look on paper
and say 'Yes, we can do it.' But now we have done it indoors and we
know we are really capable of doing it."
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