Meet to provide opportunity for individual improvement

By Andrew Hershberger
Assistant Sports Editor

As track and field coach Lissa Olson sees it, this Saturday at the Iowa Invitational meet will be an opportunity for her athletes to improve individually.

"I think it’s an effective meet to follow the Purdue Open," Olson said at practice Tuesday. "Our goal is for every athlete to improve every meet so that we can be at our best for the conference championship."

The Boilers go to Iowa City to face the host Iowa Hawkeyes, Truman State and Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Olson believes that their stiffest competition will come from Big Ten rival Iowa.

"Iowa is a rebuilding program but they have some good individuals in throwing and distance on the men's side, and some good jumps on the women's side."

Iowa's main threat in the throwing competitions comes from senior Jim Costello. He opened up the season last week at the Iowa Open by provisionally qualifying for the NCAA tournament in the weight throw and winning the shot put with a personal-best 54-4 1/2.

In shot put for the Boilers, senior Nick Swathwood leads the attack. Swathwood also provisionally qualified last week.

Sophomore Scott Hecht is a talented thrower who competes well in both events, placing second in both shot put and the weight throw at the Purdue Open. He'll have some help from a couple other big men in the weight throw.

Sophomore Keith McBride won the event at the Purdue Open with a personal-best and provisional-qualifying throw. Freshman John Smolenski, who left high school as the No. 1 weight thrower in the nation and a five-time All-America honoree, has shown promise finishing third last week.

The Hawkeye distance runners will be lead by seniors Shaun Allen and Nick Nordheim. Allen runs the mile and won his event at the Iowa Open last week with a time of 4:21.04. Nordheim won the 3,000 meter run in 8:37.64.

A pair of seniors will also lead the Boilermaker distance teams. Donnie Fellows won the 5,000 and ran the first leg of the winning distance medley team at the Purdue Open and will look to continue his success at Iowa. Geoff Fleming, who finished second to Fellows in the 5,000 and also ran in the distance medley, will finish Purdue's one-two combination.

Two women stand out in their events for the Hawkeyes. Junior Jessie Strand is the team leader in pole vaulting, despite redshirting last season. Strand returned to action at the Iowa Open with a win at 11 feet. She also competes in long jump and 60-meter hurdles, making her a valuable and versatile asset.

Sarah Steffen, also a junior, will try to continue her success in the 60 hurdles after winning last week. She also competes in the 1,600 relay, as well as the 500 and the 600 individual runs.

The Boilermakers will counter Strand in the pole vault with senior Ebbie Metzinger, who set school and conference records with a vault at the Reno Classic and enters this season as the team leader.

Senior Krissy Liphardt will be the catalyst in hurdles and sprints after setting the school record in the 60 hurdles last season against Indiana State and winning the 400 dash at the Big Ten Championships.

Olson emphasized the point that while this meet is big for improvement; the real tests are still to come.

"Every meet is like a window of opportunity for them to go out there and work on their individual performance, which is a huge factor when they start counting them for points."

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Meet to provide opportunity for individual improvement

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Sports editor: Jason Tomcsi

Assistant sports editor:
Andrew Hershberger

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