KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. ? The Indiana State men's track and field team topped ninth ranked Louisville 78-67 but was defeated by Purdue 92-67 in the Purdue Triangular Saturday. The women's team dropped a pair of dual meets, losing to 25th ranked Louisville 90-67 and also losing to the host Boilermakers 87-72.
In the 14th annual battle for the Gene Edmonds Cup, the Purdue Boilermakers were able to keep the cup in West Lafayette with a 179-139 victory over the Sycamores. The Cup battle combines the scores from both the men's and women's competitions.
“It was a pretty good meet and some pretty good competition today,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's coach, said. “We did have some problems with illness and conflicts during the competition but overall it was a good meet for us with some outstanding performances.
“We have some big meets coming up in the next three weeks,” McNichols said. “Beating the ninth ranked team in the nation was a big plus for us and Purdue is very deep and running at home.”
The Indiana State women's team did not get all the performances they were looking for but still competed well against some very stiff competition.
“This was a very tough meet,” John Gartland, Indiana State women's coach said. “We had some good performances but there were other areas where we did not get the outcome we were looking for. We still have a long way to go.”
Erica Moore set a new school record, and also broke the Purdue record, in the 600 meters, winning the event with a time of 1:30.25. Moore had set the previous Indiana State record in 2007 with a time of 1:31.93. The Sycamore was also fourth in the 60 meter hurdles (8.86) and finished fourth in the long jump (19-feet-0.5).
Kylie Hutson won her third straight pole vault competition of the indoor season, clearing 13-feet-5.75 while Lauren Martin won the triple jump for the third straight time this season with a leap of 41-feet-6.5. Jeanne' Middleton won her second straight competition in the 60 meters with a time of 7.65 seconds.
The other winner for the Sycamore women was the 4x400 meter relay team of Lauren Martin, Rachel Posey, Kaci Smith and Erica Moore with a time of 3:50.88.
On the men's side, Daryl Truitt posted the only win for the Sycamores but Indiana State did have some outstanding battles in the competition, just being edged in several events. Truitt won the 60 meters with a time of 6.90 seconds and also finished fourth in the 200 meters (22.82).
One of the best races of the night was in the men's mile where Sycamore Jeremiah Vaughan took the lead in the final lap but could not hold off Louisville All-American Cory Thorne who just edged Vaughan at the tape by just eight-hundredths of a second. Thorne won the event with a time of 4:14.55 while Thorne took first with a time of 4:14.47.
There was also a tight battle in the men's high jump as ISU's Major Clay went up against the 2007 Indoor National Champion Tone Belt of Louisville. For the second straight meet, Clay went over seven feet but Belt went just a little higher to take the win, Belt winning at 7-feet-1.5 while Clay finished second at 7-feet-0.25.
Another highlight for the Sycamore men came in the 3000 meters as ISU's Scott Keeney and Kyle Walsh finished just behind Louisville's Matt Bruce and Michael Eaton in a very tight race. Bruce won the event with a time of 8:25.13 with Eaton second (8:26.62), Keeney third (8:27.48) and Walsh fourth (8:27.72).
The Sycamores will be competing at the Indiana Relays next Friday and Saturday in Bloomington, Ind.
