Jan. 28, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue's Kenneth Baxter of the men's track and field team was named the Big Ten Athlete of the Week, announced the Big Ten Conference office on Tuesday.
Baxter received the award for his performances over the weekend of Jan. 25th against No. 14 Indiana and No. 15 Ohio State. Helping the No. 13 Boilermakers to victory over both opponents, Baxter was a two-event winner. He recorded a Purdue record, Lambert Fieldhouse record, lifetime-best and NCAA automatic qualifying time of 21.07 in the 200-meter dash, after winning the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.73, narrowly missing the NCAA provisional time of 6.72. On www.trackshark.com, Baxter also is listed as the No. 1 ranked 200-meter dasher in the nation.
"Any time an athlete is honored by the conference office, I think it's just a great honor," said Purdue head track and field coach Lissa Olson. "This award is an honor for Kenny that just reinforces the fact that he's put in a lot of hard work. It's great that the officials at the conference recognize what a great performance he had and what a personal accomplishment this is for him."
Baxter and the Boilermakers will return to the oval this weekend against Indiana State on Friday, Jan. 31, in Lambert Fieldhouse. Meet time is 4:30 p.m., with the men's weight throw as the first event. Running events will begin at about 6:20 p.m.
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