TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – University of Evansville senior Mike Boots (Evansville, Ind./Mater Dei) broke a more than 46-year-old school record in the outdoor shot put on Saturday to pace the Purple Aces’ track & field teams at the Gibson Track & Field Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Boots, facing a cross-wind at between 15 and 20 miles per hour, recorded a school-best mark of 15.34 meters (50’4″) on his final throw of the finals to place third overall. His mark broke the previous UE school outdoor record of 14.85 meters (48’9″) set during the 1976 season. Boots’ throw is the best shot put mark at UE – indoor or outdoor – as he also holds the indoor mark of 15.22 meters.
“What a tremendous job by Michael today, and it comes at a great time of the year,” said UE head coach Don Walters. “With the Valley championships coming up in only a couple of weeks, we want to be at our best right now, and take that towards the conference meet. The wind was really tough for a lot of people today, but Michael was able to push through and that was great to see.”
With the wind constantly blowing from the south all day, personal-best marks were hard to come by for a majority of the competitors on Saturday, but Evansville was still able to set 11 PR marks. Junior Zach Dove (Princeton, Ind./Princeton Community) also set a personal-best mark in the shot put with a throw of 14.73 meters, as he placed fifth, just two spots behind Boots in the standings.
Senior Joey Rucinski (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) was able to set a new personal standard in the pole vault with a height of 4.38 meters, while fellow senior Skylar Tucker (Linton, Ind./Linton-Stockton) set a PR mark in the long jump with a leap of 5.40 meters. Freshman Justin Nichols (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy Orange) cut through the wind to post a PR mark in the 1,500-meters with a time of 4:36.27.
While the wind made life difficult for a majority of the track runners on Saturday, the sprinters excelled thanks to a large tail wind. In the 100-meters, sophomore Geordan Blades (10.64) and junior Giovanni Purser (10.66) posted their fastest times ever while placing sixth and seventh overall on the men’s side. Freshman Kara Yunker (13.10) also posted her fastest-ever time in the 100-meters on the women’s side. Tucker (26.57), Yunker (27.46) and Blades (21.97) also posted their fastest times ever in the 200-meter competition, but both the 100 and 200 meter marks do not qualify for records purposes because of the tail wind being above the mark of 2.0 meters per second.
Overall, Evansville placed fifth out of 11 teams on the men’s side, and sixth out of nine teams on the women’s side. The Purple Aces will return to action next weekend in their final warm-up before the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa May 13-15.
