EAST LANSING, Mich. -Â Devynne Charlton won a pair of gold medals and a silver medal, while Symone Black picked up a gold and bronze on Sunday to help the women's team take sixth at the Big Ten Championships. Matthew McClintock ran an impressive 5,000-meter race to win his first Big Ten Championship and help the men tie for eighth.
"We competed very, very well," head coach Lonnie Greene said. "We had some ups and downs, but I thought we battled. I thought the men's competed exceedingly well. Matt McClintock competed like a hero. He represented the brand well. It blesses my heart to see a young man pour it all out like that, and that's all I could as for. We have signed some very talented kids who are going to come in and fill the holes and be players in the Big Ten right away. We will be very relevant for years to come in the Big Ten.
"On the women's side, they battled. It was a six team logjam. We were one of those six and we just need to get better in a few areas. We had some big time wins, with the 100m, the 400m hurdles and the 4x1. Overall, we competed well, but we need to go back to the drawing board and get ready for the post season."
Charlton's performance Sunday was nothing short of spectacular. The sophomore started the day with the 4x100-meter relay. There, she ran the third leg of the gold-medal winning team's 44.65-seconds time. Savannah Carson led off and gave the Boilermakers the lead before giving the baton to Carmiesha Cox. Despite a bobbled handoff, Cox recovered and handed to Charlton, where again the exchange was not clean. Charlton kept her calm and got the stick to Brionna Thomas who outran Iowa and Michigan State to the finish line for the win. The team's 44.65-second time is the second-fastest in program history, just 0.03 of a second off the record set earlier this year.
Charlton then ran the 100m hurdles. There, she tied her personal record, and the Bahamian national record, in the event with a wind-legal time of 13.06 seconds. Charlton led for much of the race before Michigan's Cindy Ofili found another gear and finished in 12.89 seconds. Just minutes later, Charlton was back at the starting line for the 100m dash. There, she got out of the blocks fast with one of the best starts of her career. She used it to lead the entire race and finish with a wind-legal time of 11.37 seconds. That time breaks the school record, which was also her mark, by 0.12 of a second. Charlton won the race by 0.12 of a second.
"Devynne is a warrior," Greene said. "On her third race, to win that race, she is a warrior. Then she walks off like it wasn't any big deal. If we would have asked her to run in the 4x400m relay, she would have done it and done it well. She was great today."
Black had an incredible day of her own. The indoor Big Ten Freshman of the Year made a strong case to earn the title for the outdoor season after winning the 400m hurdles. Black trailed Ohio State junior Alexis Franklin by at least a step after the 10th and final hurdle. With just 35 meters to go, Black showed determination beyond her years and didn't pass Franklin until the finish line. The Purdue freshman finished with a 1.25-seconds PR and new school record of 56.76 seconds to edge Franklin by 0.02 of a second. Her time ranks ninth in the country. Black also played a huge part in the women's 4x400m relay. The team of Aarin Jones, Black, Makayla Earnheart and Thomas took the bronze medal with a time of 3:34.31.
"She charged down the stretch and showed poise beyond her years," Greene said. Symone has a big engine. That girl can run 55 seconds over the sticks. Only time will tell when she does, but I think it will happen sooner than later. We just need to keep our kids healthy, let them rest and then move on from here. We still have big things in front of us."
Thomas may be among the other top contenders for Big Ten Freshman of the Year, which will be announced later in the week. After running the anchor leg of the gold medal 4x100m relay team, Thomas took fifth in the 200m dash with a wind-legal time of 23.67 seconds. She then was back at it with the anchor leg of the 4x400m relay, which took third.
McClintock competed Sunday and was determined to leave with nothing short of a gold medal. The junior distance runner made a gutsy move after about five laps and decided to distance himself from the field. The Big Ten's 10k runner-up jetted out to a lead of nearly 70 meters with three laps left, before the field eventually started to work its way back. McClintock was way too far in front, though, and coasted to the Big Ten title by nearly five seconds. His time of 14:15.38 gave the Purdue men their first Big Ten distance champion since 2001 when Donnie Fellows won the 10k. McClintock is the first Boilermaker to ever win the 5k, and the first since 1961 to win a race of similar distance, when George Harvey won the two-mile run.
The men picked up points in the relays as well. The 4x100m team of Tyler Askew, Obokhare Ikpefan, Anaquan Peterson and Nicholas Parks ran a time of 40.50 seconds to take fourth overall and earn five points. The 4x400m team of Parks, Kendal Frederick, Kinnard Rolle and Chris Arvia also took fourth and five points with a time of 3:10.07. Peterson also scored in the triple jump with a sixth-place finish. The junior had a best mark of 15.43m (50-7.50) to earn three points.
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, the Big Ten hammer throw champion, picked up three points in the shot put. Enekwechi finished sixth with a best throw of 18.45m (60-6.50). Luke Lewis had a huge PR in the event and made finals. Lewis finished ninth overall with a new best of 18.05m (59-2.75).
After helped the 4x100m relay team take gold, Cox added a point in the 100m dash with an eighth place finish. Unfortunately, though, her leg tightened up early in the race and forced her eventually to withdraw from the 200m final and her leg of the 4x400m relay. She is expected to be healthy for the regionals.
Vania Anane had a huge PR in the women's triple jump to earn sixth. She leapt a wind-legal 12.70m (41-8.00) to pick up three points. Her jump ranks sixth in program history. Cierra Brown also scored in the event, taking seventh. Her best mark was 12.57m (41-3.00). Vanessa McLeod picked up a fifth-place finish in the 800m run. She gave the women four points with a time of 2:07.87.
The women finished sixth with 67.5 points. Of those points, the Boilermakers are expected to lose just 1.5 of them to graduation with Jacqueline Williams' performance in the pole vault. None of the medalists nor members of the relay teams were seniors.
On the men's side, Purdue finished tied for eighth with 54 points with Wisconsin. Of the team's points, the team is expected to lose just 13 to graduation for next season.
Michigan State won the team title on the women's side with 128 points, while Illinois won the men's title with 145.
The Boilermakers finished ahead of Indiana on both the men's and women's sides, earning two coveted points for the Governor's Cup race, an all-sport battle between the two rivals. The two points were the final two of the competition and gave Purdue a victory by a margin of 10.0-9.0. It is the second straight year the Boilermakers have won the Cup.
Purdue has a week off before the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Florida. The Boilermakers will wait until the official draws are announced later in the week.
This weekend's Big Ten Championships will air on tape-delay next Sunday, May 24th at 11 a.m. ET.