WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue cross country team continued its season on Friday morning at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, taking on some of the highest-ranked program nationally and regionally.
The Boilermakers finished 10th on the men's side, led by junior Nathan Walker. Purdue's women placed 21st with a top performance from graduate student Payne Turney.
MEN'S 8,000m Blue Division – 10th, 270 points
The Purdue men sent three racers across the line in the top 53 scoring spots to leave the meet against highly ranked opposition with a 10th-place finish with 270 points.
The Boilermakers squared off with No. 4 Northern Arizona, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 29 Cal Baptist, No. 30 Michigan State, RV Texas Tech, in addition to No. 5 (DII) Grand Valley State and No. 6 (DII) Adams State.
Nathan Walker was Purdue's top racer for the third time this season was Nathan Walker, who came across in 22nd place in a time of 23:09.4, a personal best by 39 seconds.
Douglas Buckeridge finished in 37th with a personal-best time of 23:23.6, good by 20 seconds on his previous top mark. Caleb Williams knocked 26 seconds of his personal best to finish in 54th (53 pts) with a clip of 23:37.0.
Kiefer Bell tallied a 72nd-place finish (70 pts) while Nerius White dropped 23 seconds from his personal best to close out the scoring in 93rd place (88 pts).
Two more Boilermakers posted career times. Geno Christofanelli recorded a personal best by 20 seconds, while Brady Yoder dropped his personal mark by 14 seconds.
Nathan Walker – 22nd, 23:09.4
Douglas Buckeridge – 37th, 23:23.6
Caleb Williams – 54th (53 pts), 23:37.0
Kiefer Bell – 72nd (70 pts), 23:48.6
Nerius White – 93rd (88 pts), 24:00.4
Geno Christofanelli – 105th, 24:08.3
Brady Yoder – 115th, 24:18.7
Jason Polydoris – 122nd, 24:29.3
Alex Frey – 148th, 25:01.9
WOMEN'S 5,000m Blue Division – 21st, 481 points
For the third consecutive race, Payne Turney paced the Boilermakers. The graduate student placed 63rd in the race and 59th in the scoring with a time of 17:08.6, shaving five seconds off her career best 5,000m time. Turney climbed 55 spots after the mile and 20 over the final 2,000m.
The Boilermaker women finished in 21st place in the large meet, squaring off with five teams in the USTFCCCA Division I rankings – No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 5 BYU, No. 25 Michigan State, RV Boise State, as well as No. 1 (DII) Adams State and No. 2 (DII) Grand Valley State.
Caroline Jordan was the second Boilermaker finishing in 82nd (76 pts) in a time of 17:20.9. Emma Squires (118th, 110 pts, 17:44.8), Sarah Maggio (121st, 113 pts, 17:46.0) and Paige Hazelrigg (133rd, 123 pts, 17:52.5) rounded out the scoring for the Boilermakers.
In addition to Turney's career top mark, five Boilermakers posted personal bests. Maggio posted her career-best time, knocking off 41 seconds from her previous time. Hazelrigg dropped 13 seconds from her previous best time. Meredith Bloss bested her PR by 36 seconds. Ally Wigand saw her career best time drop by 35 seconds, and Lauren Pegher topped her career best by 19 seconds.
Payne Turney – 63rd (59 pts), 17:08.6
Caroline Jordan – 82nd (76 pts), 17:20.9
Emma Squires – 118th (110 pts), 17:44.8
Sarah Maggio – 121st (113 pts), 17:46.0
Paige Hazelrigg – 133rd (123 pts), 17:52.5
Meredith Bloss – 143rd, 17:57.8
Ally Wigand – 167th, 18:22.4
Lauren Pegher – 180th, 18:46.4
Lylie Graf – 189th, 20:15.9