Purdue Runs at Big Ten Championships

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Purdue men’s cross country team placed seventh and the women were ninth at the 2021 Big Ten Cross Country Championships in State College, Pennsylvania, on Friday.
 
On a rainy morning at Penn State’s Blue/White Golf Course, senior Curt Eckstein led the men with a 26th-place individual finish on the 5.2-mile course, and junior Emma Tate paced the women in 33rd place in the 6k race.
 
The Boilermaker men were seventh overall with 173 points, and the women were ninth with 235 points.
 
“The men had some solid individual performances, and I’m excited for them,” Purdue coach John Oliver said. “We also had some with off days, which we learn from going forward. When you have a tough day, you don’t forget it, you grow from it. The women went out there and competed tough, they put themselves up there from the gun. We have had a lot of growth this past year, and I’m excited for where we are headed. That courage they had from the start, we will build off of that for the next race and the rest of this year.”
 
At his fifth Big Ten Cross Country Championships, Eckstein was 26th overall with a time of 25:38.0. He was ahead of junior teammate Blake Selm, who placed 27th in 25:39.5 for his best career Big Ten cross country finish. Senior Bailey McIntire was 31st in 25:44.9, and fellow senior Tyler Bowling was 33rd, his best cross country conference championship placing, in 25:47.1.
 
Junior Alec Fleming tallied a 60th-place finish in 26:17.2, and sophomore Andrew Brandt was 63rd in 26:20.3. Senior Joey Humes was 65th in 26:20.6 to round out Purdue’s top seven finishers. Freshman Caleb Williams (68th, 26:34.3) and junior Ian Hunter (74th, 26:42.8) rounded out the Boilermakers’ finishers.
 
Junior Emma Tate led the Purdue women to finish 33rd in 21:28.7. At her first Big Ten Championships and in her inaugural 6k race, freshman Emma Squires was 28th in 21:47.6. Sophomore Katelyn Wasson was 46th in 21:49.4, her second-best 6k mark.
 
Senior Megan Slamkowski, at her fifth Big Ten cross country meet, was 62nd in 21:59.9, and sophomore Payne Turney finished 68th in 22:12.0 with her second-fastest 6k time. Sophomore Ellie Tate…