Stanford / Purdue
(picture of Randey Fisher handing off toTom Cassady in the 4x400 at Purdue)

In our first split-squad action of the outdoor season we sent a small group to Stanford University while the rest of the team competed at Purdue. The overall highlight of the weekend was Jayne Grebinski’s terrific school record and NCAA Regional qualifying 5000m at Stanford on Friday night. Coach Nelson took the group that also included Brice Cleland (10k), Scott Mueller (10K), Anna Weber (10k), Kaitlyn Chambers (1500m) and Eric Meissner (800m). According to Coach Nelson, Jayne’s race was almost perfect in it’s set-up. The weather and competition were ideal for fast times, and Jayne was ready to compete.

On the season now, we have qualified five women to the NCAA regional meet. That is the most in school history for the women’s team!

The rest of the team headed to Purdue for the Mike Poehlein Invitational. The meet is named for the longtime, now retired, Purdue head coach. I have had the pleasure of meeting Coach Poehlein on a couple of occasions through one of my mentors Coach Irv Ray. Coach Poehlein is definitely a class act!

Year in and year out the weather at Purdue is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. This year we got a caramel-filled chocolate (my favorite!) in that we had almost perfect weather conditions. Low 60s, sunny and no wind provided the perfect backdrop to a Saturday afternoon track & field meet.

As a team, we competed well. We are at the point of the year where we are just finishing up our last major phase of heavy training as we begin to get ready for the stretch run to conference and regionals. That said, we placed well and had some nice performances, but we didn’t see that big breakthrough performance that we should start to see in the upcoming meets with an eye on being in top form for the BIG EAST Conference meet and the NCAA Regional.

Here is a recap of this week’s highlights:

NCAA Regional Qualifier:
Jayne Grebinski (SO): 5000m – 16:46.95 – School Record!

BIG EAST Qualifiers:

Jenna Mahaffey (SR) (pictured throwing the hammer): Shot Put – 43’7”
Jessi Ehlen (SR): Discus – 138’0” Improves her previous BEQ.
Mike Boedeker (SR): Discus – 162’0” – Improves his previous BEQ.

Raymond Bratchett (SR) (picture above): High Jump – 6’7.5” Improves his previous BEQ. Best outdoor jump since 2006.
Mike Heim (SR): Discus – 146’2”
Keith Jameson (JR): Hammer – 159’0”
Jeff Kluge (JR) (pictured throwing the shot): Hammer – 160’9” PR!
Michael O’Brien (SO): 400 Hurdles – 55.04 – Improves his previous BEQ.

Other Notables:

Rachel Thiel (pictured above) won the women’s shot put with a throw over the NCAA Regional qualifying mark, however, she has thrown further earlier this season.
Jed Burey (pictured above) made his first appearance of the season (indoor or outdoor) and finished 2nd in the 800m with a time of 1:54.86. Jed had surgery on his ankle this winter after a terrific fall training season. The key to his strong initial outing was that he had developed a huge aerobic base over the summer and fall that he was able to maintain through his rehab from surgery.
Alyssa Davis jumped 36’4” in the triple jump to place her #10 in MU History.
Katlin Millin placed first in the 800m.

Other Pictures from Purdue:Kyle Saginus (SR) Liz Wilkie (JR)Brittany Rhett (SO) Lana Rabas (SR)