WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue cross country team will race at the 2020-21 Big Ten Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Blue River Cross Country Course at Blue River Memorial Park in Shelbyville, Indiana.
The women’s 6k race begins at 12:30 p.m. ET, while the men’s 8k competition is set for 2 p.m. The meet will be streamed live on BTN+, while live results and additional championship information is available on the cross country schedule page on PurdueSports.com/CrossCountry.
“I am very excited for our team to have the opportunity to compete in cross country and have a Big Ten championship this season,” Purdue head coach Norbert Elliott said. “We wish we could’ve had a full season, but we are glad to have a championship and I am happy that we’re able to present a full team on both sides. Our men are poised to give a good showing, and hopeful they can advance beyond Big Tens to the NCAA national championships. Our women’s team is young and has done a good job in preparation. Cross country coach John Oliver has done a good job preparing the team, and they will have a good showing.”
The men enter the meet ranked No. 22 in the latest national rankings by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Purdue is one of five Big Ten teams in the top-25, along with No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 15 Michigan and No. 19 Indiana, while Penn State is receiving votes. Seven Big Ten women’s teams appear in the women’s national poll: No. 6 Michigan, No. 9 Michigan State, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 12 Minnesota, No. 15 Penn State, No. 16 Indiana and No. 17 Illinois.
Senior Curt Eckstein enters the meet ranked No. 3 in the country in the indoor 3,000-meter event with a school-record time of 7:59.30 set two weeks ago. He earned All-America and All-Big Ten Second Team accolades during the 2019 cross country season as a junior and placed eighth at the Big Ten meet. Fellow senior Brody Smith also earned All-Big Ten honors last season and will compete tomorrow.
Along with live coverage on BTN+, the Big Ten Network will air the championship four times on television. The first broadcast is set for Feb. 6 at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by Feb. 7 at 8 a.m., Feb. 8 at 11 a.m. and Feb. 9 at 3 p.m.
Saturday’s championship will be closed to spectators.
A Look Back at the 2019 Cross Country Season
The Purdue men are coming off one of their best seasons in program history. The Boilermakers finished the year ranked No. 11 nationally after an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, their best since 1950. Purdue won its first NCAA regional in team history after a fourth-place Big Ten finish. The team’s 82 points at Big Tens were their best since a 73-point showing in 1985.
Eckstein and Jaret Carpenter each earned All-America accolades in 2019. Carpenter, the Big Ten Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year, placed 10th at NCAAs, while Eckstein was 24th overall. The duo are the 10th and 11th men’s cross country All-Americans in team history and the second and third since 1987. Additionally, Elliott was named the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year, the first time a Purdue coach earned the cross country honor since at least 1998.
The Boilermaker women finished 11th at the Big Ten Championships and eighth at the Great Lakes Regional.
Purdue at the Big Ten Championship
The Purdue men have won two Big Ten titles, in 1916 and 1941. The Boilermakers have recorded top-five finishes each of the past three years and came in fifth in 2017, second in 2018 and fourth in 2019. 2017 marked the first time Purdue finished better than sixth since 1986.
The Boilermaker women’s best Big Ten finish was second place in 1983, and Purdue also was third in 1981, its first Big Ten Championship.
Five men have won Big Ten titles, most recently by Matt McClintock in 2015. McClintock set a Big Ten record in the 8k race with a time of 23:12.1.
Up Next: NCAA Cross Country Championships
Qualifying Boilermakers will compete at the NCAA men’s and women’s cross country championships, set for March 15 at the OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Additionally, the Purdue track & field team returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 6, at Indiana’s Hoosier Hills Invite.