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As boring as the offseason can be there are little gems that we just have to report on. Today was the final day of the men's and women's B1G Track and Field Championships. That meant two points for the Governor's Cup were on the line with Purdue heading into today trailing IU 8-9. For those that aren't aware the Governor's Cup is the official head to head competition between the two schools. Purdue won the cup last year with a 12-8 victory. This year though the points have been hard to come by. Today the track and field team's gave Purdue their last chance to pull out the come from behind victory and boy did they deliver!
Before we get into today's events let's take a look at how we got to this point. The below scorecard is directly from Purduesports.com and gives you all the details you'll need about the season thus far. At present time it's not yet updated to reflect the Purdue victory.
2014-15 INDIANA NATIONAL GUARD GOVERNOR'S CUP RESULTS SPORT DATE LOCATION RESULT POINTS PURDUE INDIANA Volleyball 10/8 West Lafayette PUR 3, IND 0 0.5 0.5 Volleyball 10/11 Bloomington PUR 3, IND 1 0.5 0.5 Soccer 10/25 West Lafayette IND 1, PUR 0 1.0 1.0 Men's Cross Country 11/2 Big Ten Championships IND 4th, PUR 9th 1.0 1.0 Women's Cross Country 11/2 Big Ten Championships IND 6th, PUR 8th 1.0 1.0 Football 11/29 Bloomington IND 23, PUR 16 1.0 1.0 Women's Basketball 1/4 West Lafayette PUR 86, IND 64 0.5 0.5 Men's Track & Field/Indoor 1/17 Bloomington IND 80, PUR 55 1.0 1.0 Women's Track & Field/Indoor 1/17 Bloomington PUR 72, IND 64 1.0 1.0 Men's Swimming & Diving 1/24 West Lafayette IND 162, PUR 138 1.0 1.0 Women's Swimming & Diving 1/24 West Lafayette IND 151, PUR 147 1.0 1.0 Men's Basketball 1/28 West Lafayette PUR 83, IND 67 0.5 0.5 Women's Basketball 2/2 Bloomington IND 72, PUR 55 0.5 0.5 Men's Basketball 2/19 Bloomington PUR 67, IND 63 0.5 0.5 Wrestling 2/20 West Lafayette PUR 30, IND 9 1.0 1.0 Women's Tennis 3/13 West Lafayette PUR 6, IND 1 1.0 1.0 Men's Tennis 4/15 Bloomington IND 4, PUR 0 1.0 1.0 Softball 4/22 Bloomington PUR 1, IND 1 1.0 0.5 0.5 Men's Golf 4/24-26 Big Ten Championships PUR 8th, IND 12th 1.0 1.0 Women's Golf 4/24-26 Big Ten Championships PUR 3rd, IND 11th 1.0 1.0 Men's Track & Field/Outdoor 5/15-17 Big Ten Championships 1.0 Women's Track & Field/Outdoor 5/15-17 Big Ten Championships 1.0 TOTAL PURDUE INDIANA 8.0 9.0
As you can see Purdue really struggled to start the season and in the middle of the year. Surprisingly Purdue lost both men's and women's Swimming and Diving to the Hoosiers. Also, of the four points available thus far for running, Indoor Track and Field and Cross Country, IU had won three of the four making today not look so great for the Boilermakers. Purdue's Track and Field teams laugh at me trying to find trends! They care nothing for past events and were determined to take down the Hoosiers and seal a Governor's Cup victory.
I'm a bit of a Track and Field guy myself having run in high school and continuing to this day. I could break down all the events for you but I don't want to waste your time. For selfish reasons though I do want to point out the great work that Matt McClintock did today. He not only won the 5K in 14:15 but also came in second in the 10K. That's a heck of day right there. To put that 14:15 in perspective that's an average pace of 4:35 per mile. For 3.12 miles. That's insane. I can't even run one mile that fast. The guy has been a beast for Purdue in both Track and Cross Country and doesn't get the recognition he deserves because he participates in a sport that most people don't follow or care about. Here's to you Matt McClintock! To top off his day his victory in the 5K was the sealing event for the Governor's Cup.
Matt McClintock is your 5k Big Ten Champion! Won by 5 seconds in 14:15.38! #BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/tGC1hMNn2i
— PurdueTrack&Field (@PurdueTrackXC) May 17, 2015
So there you have it thanks to a 6th place finish by the women and a 9th place finish by the men the Purdue Boilermakers are your 2014-2015 Governor's Cup Champions. I know for some of you this means nothing because Purdue still doesn't have the Old Oaken Bucket but I think that makes this victory even more impressive. In two seasons where Purdue has given up one of their normally sure points they still have found a way to win the Governor's Cup two years in a row. Let's make it a Three-Pete next year with football getting back into the mix!