Hoosiers Dominate Steeplechase, Shot Put on Day Two
May 14, 2011
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Indiana closed a rain-soaked second day of the Big Ten Championships with a big attention-grabber, taking both steeplechase titles and scoring a combined 44 points in the process. IU won three titles on the day, with De'Sean Turner, Sarah Pease and Faith Sherrill taking home the hardware. The IU women finished the day in first place with 73 points and the IU men are in third with 37 points. The Hoosier women have a 30-point lead on the second-place Nittany Lions of Penn State.
Indiana had three of the top four in both 3,000m steeplechases, with Pease winning the women's race and Turner defending his title in the event. Turner clocked a time of 8:42.09 to win IU's fifth title in the event and become the first repeat steeple champ in school history. His time is the fourth-best in IU history. Andrew Poore took second in the event for the second-straight year, finishing in 8:43.45 to move into sixth in IU history. Andy Weatherford was fourth in 8:47.99, which is seventh in IU history. The trio scored 23 points in the event.
Pease finished in 10:15.05 to win her first Big Ten title and break the Cretzmyer Track record. It is the second Big Ten steeplechase title ever by an IU woman. She was followed in by Caitlin Engel in third with a time of 10:21.89 and Ehrman was fourth in 10:24.08. The Hoosiers got 21 points in the women's steeple.
Sherrill won her fourth Big Ten title and her third in the shot put. The all-time conference record holder in the event both indoors and outdoors won the competition a puddle with a heave of 16.10m (52-10). Teammate Monique Riddick took third with a throw of 15.81m (51-10.5). The pair scored 16 points for IU after they added five points on day one.
Darius King finished in a three-way tie for fifth in the high jump, clearing 2.04m (6-8.25). King scored three points for the Hoosiers. Paul Haaas scored four points for IU with a fifth-place finish in the discus. He had a throw of 50.67m (166-3).
In the women's heptathlon, Laura Morris and Courtney Woodard battled brutal conditions to finish in sixth and seventh. Morris scored 4,622 points for sixth, and Woodard scored 4,422 for seventh. The pair were two of only eight of the original 15 in the event to finish each of seven events, scoring five points for the IU cause.
Hoosiers advancing to finals on the day included Devin Pipkin and Kind Butler in the men's 100m and 200m; Aireonna Bailey in the women's 100m and 200m; Ruth Christopher in the women's 800m, Ben Hubers, De'Sean Turner, and Danny Stockberger in the men's 1,500m.
