Saturday, April 28, 2012

A pair of efforts from sophomore Sarah Drozdowski (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) that rank second in Crusader history highlighted the Valparaiso women’s track and field team’s performance at the Purdue Open Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

In the one event contested on Friday afternoon, Drozdowski unleashed a toss of 166’11” in the hammer throw to win the event, improving upon her second-best mark all-time at Valpo at the same time.  Then on Saturday, the sophomore moved into second in Crusader history in the shot put with a throw of 42’11 ¾”, good for a second-place finish.  Drozdowski also recorded a season-best distance of 125’3” in the discus throw to place sixth, and finished in fifth position in the javelin throw with a mark of 106’3”.

Elsewhere on the infield, freshman Jazmin Taylor (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island) matched her PR in the high jump, leaping 4’7” to finish in second place in the event.  Sophomore Kelley Freeman (Valparaiso, Ind./Chesterton) tied for top honors in the pole vault by clearing 11’1 ¾”, while freshman Brooke Hinstorff (Waterloo, Wis./Lakeside Lutheran) paced the Crusaders in a pair of events, finishing second in the triple jump (31’8”) and fifth in the long jump (15’ 9 ¾”).

On the track, it was freshman Kelli Wosick (Mount Prospect, Ill./Saint Viator) who had Valpo’s best showing.  The rookie finished just over a second off of her PR in the 400m dash, crossing the line in 1:01.74 to finish in fourth place.  Meanwhile, the 800m run saw freshman Patty Stellfox (Lansing, Ill./Thornton Fractional South) run to a second-place finish.

Valparaiso will compete at the three-day Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championships next weekend in Milwaukee, Wis.  The meet starts Friday, May 4 at 9 a.m.