WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -Â Devynne Charlton joined a prestigious group of current Boilermakers on Saturday afternoon at the Drake Relays. The sophomore became the third current Purdue track and field student-athlete to break, and currently hold, an international record.
Charlton became the fastest 100-meter hurdler in Bahamas history after running a wind-legal time of 13.06 seconds (wind: +1.1) at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. That broke the three-year old national record of 13.13 seconds (wind: +1.1) set by Olympian Ivanique Kemp at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, coincidentally also in Des Moines.
"Crossing the finish line, I knew it would be a fast time," Charlton said. "After looking at the board and seeing 13.06 and a legal wind, I knew I had the record. It's a great feeling because it's been a goal of mine for years, even as a junior. I didn't break the junior national record, which just made me hungrier to go after the national record. I don't think it's really hit me yet that I hold the record at 19 years old."
Charlton's race ranks eighth in NCAA Division I this season and is the second best in the Big Ten. She broke the Purdue school record, which had stood since 2008, by 0.21 of a second, and her own previous best by 0.30 of a second. The sophomore from Nassau, Bahamas, hadn't run better than 13.41 seconds in a Purdue uniform prior to Saturday, but finally settled in on her own race.
"I think the difference was that I didn't panic in the middle of the race like I usually do when I feel someone on the side of me," Charlton said. "I stayed relaxed and matched what they were doing and had by best race as a result."
The sophomore isn't the first Boilermaker to break a national record. Junior Chukwuebuka Enekwechi broke the Nigerian national record in the hammer throw last season, and has re-broken his own mark twice already this spring. His current Nigerian record, and Purdue record, is 69.57m (228-3) which he threw at the Kansas Relays on April 15.
Vanessa McLeod also has an international record. The junior broke the Canadian women's junior 800m record in 2013 when she won the Canadian Junior Championships with a time of 2:04.89. To qualify as a junior, competitors must be 18 or younger.
While no current Boilermakers hold an American record, graduate Kara (Patterson) Winger does. She is the American record holder in the women's javelin, which she broke in 2010 when she threw 66.67m (218-9) at the National Championships in 2010, also in Des Moines.
Current Boilermakers Matthew McClintock, Tate Schienbein and Hope Schmelzle have competed for the U.S. Junior teams, while Carmiesha Cox and Charlton competed for the Bahamas junior team and Obokhare Ikpefan was an alternate for the Nigerian 4x400m relay team. McClintock was the 10k junior national champion and won the event at the Junior Pan-Am Games in 2013, while Schienbein won the 3,000-meter steeplechase national title that year. Purdue has had three U.S. Junior Champions in the last two years, as well as McLeod winning her 800m Canadian Junior Championship.