GENEVA, Ohio - The Purdue women had their highest finish at the Big Ten Indoor Championships since 2001, after tying for third at the two-day meet. The Boilermakers finished with 68 points, the program's best since 2010 despite adding three teams since. On the men's side, Purdue took 11th with 37 points.
"I'm pretty proud of how the young women competed," head coach Lonnie Greene said. "They competed tough. They went after it and believed that they were one of the teams to be reckoned with. I was just so proud of how everyone competed, from Devynne Charlton to Carmiesha Cox, Aarin Jones, Vanessa McLeod, Cierra Brown, Katie Hoevet, Kiara McIntosh, Hope Schmelzle, Elizabeth Iversen, Savannah Carson and others, they competed very, very well. We are a stronger team outdoors because of the schedule and events that we pick up. We're not going away anytime soon and I'm grateful to the Lord for what we have accomplished so far. Now, we just have to finish it off with the group that we have coming back."
Greene's full interview can be found below.
On the women's side, the Boilermakers had several huge performances. Devynne Charlton was one of them, as she scored in three events, including two silver medals. Charlton started with the 60-meter dash where she broke her own school record with a second place finish time of 7.38 seconds. The race came across the finish line almost all together, as the winning time was 7.36 seconds and third place was also 7.38 seconds. Charlton then had the 60m hurdles, her best event. Charlton again ran well and finished runner-up with a time of 8.18 seconds, just 0.01 of a second off her own school record. She wrapped her day up with the 200m dash where she finished seventh with a time of 24.47 seconds. Charlton scored 18 points for the Boilermakers on Saturday.
Carmiesha Cox also had a strong day for the Boilermakers as well. She started her day by taking sixth in the 60m dash with a time of 7.44 seconds to earn three points for Purdue. She concluded her day with the 200m dash where she worked her way onto the podium with a third place finish. Cox ran a time of 23.75 seconds, the second-best true-time of her career. Cox and Charlton are the first Purdue women to score in the 200m dash this century.
Symone Black was Purdue's top freshman and had a great first championships. Black qualified for the 400m finals with a time of 54.50 seconds on Friday. She followed it up with the best performance in Purdue school history by a landslide. Black broke the Purdue school record by 0.82 of a second and became the first Boilermaker to run a sub-54-second 400m dash indoors after posting a time of 53.47 seconds to take second. Black was tied for the top finishing freshman at the championships on the women's side, as only three rookies had runner-up finishes, while none won a title.
Black wasn't done with the 400m dash. She was tasked with running the anchor leg or the women's 4x400m relay, the deciding event, while knowing exactly what she had to do to determine whether the Boilermakers would finish anywhere from second to seventh overall as a team. The women were sitting in fifth place with 62 points, just four points ahead of Wisconsin, two ahead of Penn State, one behind Michigan State, two behind Nebraska and four behind Michigan. The Boilermakers needed at least a top-three finish.
Black took the stick after getting bumped at the line in a call that was protested, but ultimately upheld, in third place. She battled and ran a great leg, giving the Purdue team of Taylor Dunlap, Aarin Jones, Brionna Thomas and Black a new school record in the first time they have competed together as a team. The Boilermakers took third overall with a time of 3:36.95 to earn six points. Penn State took second in the event, giving them eight, tying them with Purdue. The Wolverines squeaked out a sixth place finish to earn three points and give them the second place team finish over Purdue and Penn State by one point.
"I was very nervous at first, but Coach Greene talked to me and calmed me down. I just had to run. I didn't think about being the only freshman or anything else, I just ran. I got boxed in (in the 400m), but I saw an opening so I went for it. Coach Greene told me what the Big Ten Championships would be like. I was so happy to make finals and then just gave it all I had. I never thought I had 53.47 in me, but Coach Greene told me I did. I believed it, but it didn't manifest. I am very happy."
Black's full interview can be found at the bottom of the page.
Katie Hoevet had a career weekend as well, as did Kiara McIntosh and Hope Schmelzle. A day after PRing in the mile with the third-fastest time in school history and following it up with a leg of the distance medley relay's bronze medal finish, Hoevet was back for the mile final. She got out to a strong start and held her ground against a field loaded with All-Americans. Hoevet PRed again with a time of 4:41.65, the best time at Purdue since 1988, and took third. McIntosh worked her way into the scoring with a sixth place finish and a time of 4:45.13. Schmelzle was right behind her taking seventh with a time of 4:46.83. It was the first time the Boilermakers have had three scorers in the mile.
"It was really exciting to see all our hardwork pay off," Hoevet said. "Our goal was to get three of us to score in the meet, and we did that. It was the whole crew coming together and working and it was super exciting to see us reach our potential and put the Purdue distance crew on the map. It was the best feeling to have Kiara and Hope alongside me in the final. We pushed each other every day and reminded each other of where we wanted to go, it's an indescribable final. It was a case of mind over matter today and who wanted it the most and I wanted it really bad."
Hoevet's full interview can be found below.
The women's side had two other scorers on Saturday. Cierra Brown took fifth in the triple jump and Vanessa McLeod was sixth in the 800m run. Brown leapt 12.31m (40-4.50) to earn four points. McLeod, a day after qualifying for the 800m finals, ran a 2:10.29 to earn three points.
On the men's side Chukwuebuka Enekwechi led the way for the second day in a row. The junior thrower took second in the weight throw with a mark of 23.61m (77-5.50). Enekwechi earned 16 of the men's 37 total points.
Jake Waterman wrapped up his Purdue career on Saturday with a great weekend for the Boilermakers. A day after scoring in the 3,000-meter run, Waterman was back at it with the 5k. He earned a seventh place finish with a time of 14:05.56, the third-fastest time in school history, to give Purdue two more points. Waterman earned four points for the championships and finished his college career, because his outdoor eligibility ended a year ago at the NCAA Championships.
Matthew McClintock worked his way back into form and medaled in the 5k. The junior ran a 13:59.92 to take third place. The time was 6.80 seconds off his PR, though was one of the fastest times in school history because he is the only Boilermaker to run a sub-14 minute 5k in indoor program history. Tate Schienbein was strong in the 5k as well, running a huge PR. He posted a time of 14:09.50 to take 11th overall. His time ranks fifth in school history.
Obokhare Ikpefan was in the 400m finals after qualifying through Friday's trials. The sophomore missed his PR by 0.07 of a second and finished seventh with a time of 47.52 seconds. Ikpefan was also a member of the men's 4x400m relay team, the meet's final event. The Boilermakers were in the second section, the fast section, and ran the second-fastest time in school history, behind their own program record. Chris Arvia, Ikpefan, Kendal Frederick and Nicholas Parks ran a time of 3:08.43 to take fourth and earn five points.
The Boilermakers now await official word on qualifications for the NCAA Championships. Charlton and Enekwechi will make it in the 60m hurdles and weight throw, respectively. A few other Purdue student-athletes will be close and have to await results of all the conference championships.