BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Purdue track and field teams opened the season at the IU Earlybird Invitational on Friday evening. Chukwuebuka Enekwechi was among a handful of winners for the Boilermakers, as he took the weight throw crown with the nation's best mark on the season.
"We had a very good start," head coach Lonnie Greene said. "It's night and day better from where we were last year to date. We had people like Symone Black and Devynne Charlton run well and that's huge. It was a good opener. We lined up against some of the top competition in the country, not just collegiately, and we fared well with them. That's outstanding to me. Our men's 4x4 was great. Chuk (Enekwechi) is Chuk and he had a great open with 75 feet, and that's huge. It's a great start for him and the team.
"Obos (Ikpefan) ran very well. He was the top collegian in the 300m and he was very close to three-time Olympian Rindell Sorrelo. We had several PRs. I was very pleased with the way the kids performed and that bodes well for the season ahead."
Enekwechi opened with a throw of 22.54m (73-11.50) on his first attempt in the weight throw. After fouling three straight attempts, he had his best throw of the competition with a mark of 23.01m (75-06.00), which is the best throw in the country so far this season. While not a personal best, the distance is better than any other mark by a Purdue thrower in school history. Enekwechi also took fourth in the shot put with the nation's seventh-best toss on the season. He put the shot 18.28m (59-11.75) on his final attempt of the competition.
The men's 4x400m relay team won the event with the nation's third-best time of the season. The group of Chris Arvia, Obokhare Ikpefan, Kendal Frederick and Nicholas Parks finished in 3:15.00 to win by 0.08 of a second over Indiana.
"Kendal ran a superb anchor leg and ran down the Indiana All-American, and he did it with poise," said Greene. "He and Arvia did a great job. We opened faster than we did a year ago, so to run what we did, I was pretty pleased."
On the women's side, Devynne Charlton had a career day. She advanced to the finals in the 60m dash with a time of 7.56 seconds in the prelims. That time was the fourth fastest heading into finals. There, she matched her personal record of 7.52 seconds, the third-fastest time in Purdue history, to take fifth in the competition. Her time is the seventh-fastest in the country this season.
Charlton also had a great day in the 60m hurdles. She ran a time of 8.39 seconds in the prelims, the second fastest time, to advance to the finals. There, she took second overall with a time of 8.33, a personal record and Purdue's third-fastest time in program history.
"I was very impressed with Devynne Charlton," added Greene. "She is going to continue to spin up and get better as the season progresses. The whole sprint group just needed to get their first meet under their belt. They understand what it's going to take, and we have a long way to go, but I was pleased with the way we performed. Now, we just need to build off that."
Savannah Carson and Twyla Winfrey also made the finals in the 60m dash. Carson took seventh overall, while Winfrey finished eighth. Ikpefan finished second overall in the men's 300-meter dash, and was the top overall collegian. He ran a time of 34.32
In the 500-meter dashes, Aarin Jones had a PR and a top-five time on the women's side. She took third with a time of 1:13.22, just over two seconds behind the champion. In the men's race, Arvia had a personal best and moved up the top five list. Arvia ran a time of 1:04.26, which is the fourth-fastest time in program history.
"The reality is that our young freshmen competed well," added Greene. "They were just young and we went against some mature teams, but I thought our freshmen competed very well. We saw some things we need to work on, but that comes with time and repetition. We competed with poise and confidence. I believe that by February and championship season that we will be competing where we need to be."
The Boilermakers are off until after the winter break. The team will come back the first full week of January for the home opener.