Saturday, May 13
Bloomington, Ind.
ALL DAY
Indiana University
vs
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Fernandez-Sola Grabs Big Ten Long Jump Crown
5/13/2023 8:30:00 PM | Track and Field
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - For the first time since 2007, Indiana has the Big Ten Outdoor Champion in the women's long jump.
Paola Fernandez-Sola, twice an All-American, topped the podium at the 2023 Big Ten Outdoor Championships with a season's best mark of 6.52m/21-4.75.
The San Juan, Puerto Rico native put together an outstanding long jump series, recording clean marks on all six attempts. She would've also won the meet with her second-best mark at 6.40m/21-0.
She grabs IU's ninth title in the event outdoors in program history. The title was last claimed by an IU athlete 16 years ago when IU's current Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services, Lorian Price, posted a winning mark of 6.46m/21-6.75.
With Fernandez-Sola's win in the long jump, the IU women have now claimed at least one field event title at 10 of the last 13 Big Ten Outdoor Championships. The Hoosiers will have three more opportunities to win field events Sunday with the finals of the triple jump, high jump and discus.
Serena Bolden claimed bronze in the long jump after bounding out to 6.29m/20-7.75. This is the first medal of her career after six previous conference championship meets (five SEC, one Big Ten).
The Hoosiers' 16 points in the women's long jump marks the most in a single event since compiling 16 in the triple jump at the 2021 Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
Hope Purcell made history of her own, earning IU's first heptathlon medal in at least 20 years with a personal best of 5282 points across seven events.
Despite being far from 100 percent, Purcell gutted through the final day to earn a bronze medal, edging out Penn State's Maddie Pitts by 17 points for third place.
Purcell put up marks of 5.73m/18-9.75 (long jump), 33.51m/190-11 (javelin) and 2:30.88 (800 meters) to help better her lifetime best by over 60 points.
The Lancaster, Ohio native provided IU its highest finish in the heptathlon since 2013 (Courtney Woodard, 4th). It was also the highest finish of her career after placing sixth in 2019 and 2021.
Jayden Ulrich made it four medals for the IU women on Saturday with a bronze medal in the shot put, matching her third-place finish indoors in the same event.
She threw a massive personal best of 17.87m/58-7.5 to claim third. Her mark is No. 2 in school history behind only Khayla Dawson's record heave of 18.91m/62-0.5 in 2021.
Ulrich claims her third Big Ten medal in her young career and will go for back-to-back conference titles in the discus tomorrow afternoon.
Jake Gebhardt earned his first career medal outdoors at the Big Ten Championships after finishing comfortably third in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Minnesota's Matthew Wilkinson won the event with Wisconsin's Logan Measner second. Jake Gebhardt ran a two-second lifetime best of 8:51.50 for third. This was IU's first medal in the steeplechase since Daniel Michalski went second in 2019.
Robert Blue earned three points for the Hoosiers with a sixth-place finish in the long jump. He recorded a mark of 7.49m/24-7 on his opening attempt of the series. He made the final out of the opening flight, holding on to score his first points as a Hoosiers.
Antonio Laidler earned a lane in his second individual event of the weekend. He ran 10.30 in the 100 meters out of the first heat, the seventh-fastest qualifying mark in the field. The Florida native is also scheduled to run the finals of the 200 meters and 4x100 relay tomorrow.
Camden Marshall earned a big Q and his spot in the 800-meter final with a time of 1:49.78 in the prelims. He's made all four finals, indoors and outdoors, in the 800 meters at the Big Ten Championships in his career.
He was an indoor champion in 2021 and will go for his first outdoor title in tomorrow's final (2:03 PM).
The IU women have moved into fourth in the team standings on 28 points. The IU men are seventh on 24 points with 12 events left to be scored on both sides.
Highlighted events tomorrow include the discus, 5000 meters, women's triple jump and the men's 800 meters. Championship Sunday begins at 11:00 AM EDT with the men's discus and triple jump.
Athletes Advanced to Finals:
• Antonio Laidler (100m)
• Camden Marshall (800m)
Point Scorers:
Men
• Robert Blue: Long Jump (3)
• Jake Gebhardt: 3000mS (6)
Women
• Paola Fernandez-Sola: Long Jump (10)
• Serena Bolden: Long Jump (6)
• Jayden Ulrich: Shot Put (6)
• Hope Purcell: Heptathlon (6)
Heptathlon Standings (Final)
1. Tionna Tobias, Iowa (5640)
2. Bryanna Craig, Purdue (5460)
3. Hope Purcell, Indiana (5282)
4. Maddie Pitts, Penn State (5265)
5. Theresa Mayanja, Michigan (5194)
Men's Team Scores (Day 2)
1. Nebraska (84)
2. Minnesota (46)
3. Wisconsin (40)
4. Michigan State (34)
5. Iowa (26)
5. Penn State (26)
Women's Team Scores (Day 2)
1. Nebraska (68)
2. Michigan (33)
2. Wisconsin (33)
4. Indiana (28)
5. Iowa (23)
Paola Fernandez-Sola, twice an All-American, topped the podium at the 2023 Big Ten Outdoor Championships with a season's best mark of 6.52m/21-4.75.
The San Juan, Puerto Rico native put together an outstanding long jump series, recording clean marks on all six attempts. She would've also won the meet with her second-best mark at 6.40m/21-0.
She grabs IU's ninth title in the event outdoors in program history. The title was last claimed by an IU athlete 16 years ago when IU's current Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services, Lorian Price, posted a winning mark of 6.46m/21-6.75.
With Fernandez-Sola's win in the long jump, the IU women have now claimed at least one field event title at 10 of the last 13 Big Ten Outdoor Championships. The Hoosiers will have three more opportunities to win field events Sunday with the finals of the triple jump, high jump and discus.
Serena Bolden claimed bronze in the long jump after bounding out to 6.29m/20-7.75. This is the first medal of her career after six previous conference championship meets (five SEC, one Big Ten).
The Hoosiers' 16 points in the women's long jump marks the most in a single event since compiling 16 in the triple jump at the 2021 Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
Hope Purcell made history of her own, earning IU's first heptathlon medal in at least 20 years with a personal best of 5282 points across seven events.
Despite being far from 100 percent, Purcell gutted through the final day to earn a bronze medal, edging out Penn State's Maddie Pitts by 17 points for third place.
Purcell put up marks of 5.73m/18-9.75 (long jump), 33.51m/190-11 (javelin) and 2:30.88 (800 meters) to help better her lifetime best by over 60 points.
The Lancaster, Ohio native provided IU its highest finish in the heptathlon since 2013 (Courtney Woodard, 4th). It was also the highest finish of her career after placing sixth in 2019 and 2021.
Jayden Ulrich made it four medals for the IU women on Saturday with a bronze medal in the shot put, matching her third-place finish indoors in the same event.
She threw a massive personal best of 17.87m/58-7.5 to claim third. Her mark is No. 2 in school history behind only Khayla Dawson's record heave of 18.91m/62-0.5 in 2021.
Ulrich claims her third Big Ten medal in her young career and will go for back-to-back conference titles in the discus tomorrow afternoon.
Jake Gebhardt earned his first career medal outdoors at the Big Ten Championships after finishing comfortably third in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Minnesota's Matthew Wilkinson won the event with Wisconsin's Logan Measner second. Jake Gebhardt ran a two-second lifetime best of 8:51.50 for third. This was IU's first medal in the steeplechase since Daniel Michalski went second in 2019.
Robert Blue earned three points for the Hoosiers with a sixth-place finish in the long jump. He recorded a mark of 7.49m/24-7 on his opening attempt of the series. He made the final out of the opening flight, holding on to score his first points as a Hoosiers.
Antonio Laidler earned a lane in his second individual event of the weekend. He ran 10.30 in the 100 meters out of the first heat, the seventh-fastest qualifying mark in the field. The Florida native is also scheduled to run the finals of the 200 meters and 4x100 relay tomorrow.
Camden Marshall earned a big Q and his spot in the 800-meter final with a time of 1:49.78 in the prelims. He's made all four finals, indoors and outdoors, in the 800 meters at the Big Ten Championships in his career.
He was an indoor champion in 2021 and will go for his first outdoor title in tomorrow's final (2:03 PM).
The IU women have moved into fourth in the team standings on 28 points. The IU men are seventh on 24 points with 12 events left to be scored on both sides.
Highlighted events tomorrow include the discus, 5000 meters, women's triple jump and the men's 800 meters. Championship Sunday begins at 11:00 AM EDT with the men's discus and triple jump.
| Big Ten Outdoor Championships: May 13th | |
| Event | Athletes: Mark |
| Heptathlon (W): Final | 3. Hope Purcell: 5282 | Personal Best, No. 6 School History |
| Long Jump: Heptathlon | 4. Hope Purcell: 5.73m/18-9.75 (768) |
| Javelin: Heptathlon | 5. Hope Purcell: 33.51m/190-11 (543) |
| 800 Meters: Heptathlon | 7. Hope Purcell: 2:30.88 (682) |
| Long Jump (M): Trials/Finals | 6. Robert Blue: 7.49m/24-7 17. Alex Smith: 6.91m/22-8 20. Kynton Grays: 6.85m/22-5.75 |
| Shot Put (M): Trials/Finals | 20. Noah Koch: 17.45m/57-3 |
| 400 Meters (W): Trials | 24. Kaylee Lane: 56.43 | Personal Best |
| Shot Put (W): Trials/Finals | 3. Jayden Ulrich: 17.87m/58-7.5 | Personal Best, No. 2 School History 13. Makayla Hunter: 15.35m/50-4.5 |
| 100 Meters (M): Trials | 7. Antonio Laidler: 10.30 | Advances to Finals 12. Christopher Grant: 10.48 19. Trelee Banks: 10.68 |
| 100 Meters (W): Trials | 12. Alyssa Robinson: 11.53 22. Serena Bolden: 11.85 |
| Long Jump (W): Trials/Finals | 1. Paola Fernandez-Sola: 6.52m/21-4.75 3. Serena Bolden: 6.29m/20-7.75 | No. 10 School History |
| 100 Hurdles (W): Trials | 16. Nile Brown: 14.82 |
| 800 Meters (M): Trials | 6. Camden Marshall: 1:49.78 | Advances to Finals 14. Keefer Soehngen: 1:50.45 23. Parker Raymond: 1:51.74 27. Nick Couyoumjian: 1:52.20 33. Nico Colchico: 1:54.68 |
| 800 Meters (W): Trials | 13. Maddie Russin: 2:08.73 |
| 3000mS (M): Finals | 3. Jake Gebhardt: 8:51.10 | Personal Best 12. Austin Haskett: 9:10.04 |
| 3000mS (W): Finals | 10. Alyssa Skorge: 10:37.32 |
Athletes Advanced to Finals:
• Antonio Laidler (100m)
• Camden Marshall (800m)
Point Scorers:
Men
• Robert Blue: Long Jump (3)
• Jake Gebhardt: 3000mS (6)
Women
• Paola Fernandez-Sola: Long Jump (10)
• Serena Bolden: Long Jump (6)
• Jayden Ulrich: Shot Put (6)
• Hope Purcell: Heptathlon (6)
Heptathlon Standings (Final)
1. Tionna Tobias, Iowa (5640)
2. Bryanna Craig, Purdue (5460)
3. Hope Purcell, Indiana (5282)
4. Maddie Pitts, Penn State (5265)
5. Theresa Mayanja, Michigan (5194)
Men's Team Scores (Day 2)
1. Nebraska (84)
2. Minnesota (46)
3. Wisconsin (40)
4. Michigan State (34)
5. Iowa (26)
5. Penn State (26)
Women's Team Scores (Day 2)
1. Nebraska (68)
2. Michigan (33)
2. Wisconsin (33)
4. Indiana (28)
5. Iowa (23)
Players Mentioned
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Hurdles/Jumps
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Mid-Distance
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Mid-Distance
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Distance
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Sprints
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Jumps
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Distance
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Throws
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Throws
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Sprints
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Sprints
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Multis
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Mid-Distance
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Sprints
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Mid-Distance
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Distance
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Mid-Distance
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Throws
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