USTFCCCA Release
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) officially announced the 2015 All-Americans for the outdoor season on Monday night. First Team honors were awarded to finalists in the sprinting events, while the top eight finishers in distance and field events earned the top accolade.
The Boilermakers picked up 11 First Team All-America honors, including nine on the women's side. The women's total is the most in school history since the NCAA officially started sponsoring a women's national championship in 1983. Prior to that, the Boilermakers had 16 All-America honors in 1982, including eight from events that are no longer contested at the championships. The Purdue women's previous NCAA high was four in 2001. The two men's First Team honors are the program's most since 2003, when the Boilermakers earned three. The combined 11 First Teamers is the most combined for a single NCAA Championship in Boilermaker history, not counting the 16 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) women's All-Americans in 1982.
The eight individuals who earned the 11 First Team All-America honors will all be back next season, including three freshmen and three sophomores who combined for eight First Team honors. All 11 individuals who made the trip to the national championships will return next season.
Devynne Charlton, Carmiesha Cox and Brionna Thomas earned a pair of First Team All-America honors each, while Symone Black, Savannah Carson and Aarin Jones were each named to the first team once for the women. On the men's side, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi and Matthew McClintock were named First Team All-America. The First Team honors were the first during the outdoor season for all eight individuals.
Micaela Hazlewood and Enekwechi also picked up USTFCCCA Honorable Mention honors.
Enekwechi and McClintock picked up First Team All-America honors on the first day of the meet. Enekwechi finished sixth in the hammer throw, while McClintock was seventh in the 10,000-meter run. Enekwechi also earned Honorable Mention honors after finishing 22nd in the shot put. The men finished tied for 44th in the country with five points.
Enekwechi is the fourth First Team All-American for Purdue in the hammer throw and the first since John Paul Smolenski in 2005. Current throws coach Keith McBride was an All-American in the event in 2003, while Chris Brown earned First Team honors in 2000. McClintock is Purdue's first First Team All-American in an event longer than two miles. He is just the second men's distance runner in program history to earn All-America honors for outdoor track and field. Gene Mathews earned First Team honors for the 2-mile in 1953 and 1954.
Carson, Cox, Charlton and Thomas earned First Team All-America honors after running the women's 4x100-meter relay and finishing sixth. Charlton added her second First Team honor after placing seventh in the 100m hurdles with a school and Bahamian record of 13.00 seconds (wind +1.7 m/s). Black, Cox, Jones and Thomas wrapped up the meet with First Team All-America honors for finishing fourth in the 4x400m relay. Hazlewood earned Honorable Mention honors after placing 22nd in the discus in her rookie season. The women finished tied for 20th in the country with 10 points.
The women's 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay First Team All-America honors are both the first in program history. Charlton's 100m hurdles First Team All-America honor is the first by a Purdue woman in the NCAA Championship era and the first by a Boilermaker since 1982 with Lorna Russell and Maria Williams.
Six of the seven women and one of the two men who qualified for the NCAA Championships were making their outdoor national championship debut. Despite that, five of the six first-time qualifying women, as well as McClintock for the men, earned First Team All-America honors and brought home a total of nine First Team trophies.
The women's nine First Team All-America honors are tied with Florida State for the eighth most in the country. Texas A&M led the way with 15, while USC was second with 14. Oregon had the third most with 13. Florida and Texas both had 12, while Arkansas and LSU had 11 apiece.
The women's nine First Team All-America honors were far and away the most in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers had three times as many as the second-highest total for a Big Ten school, Michigan with three. The Big Ten earned 20 total First Team All-America trophies on the women's side, including the nine by Boilermakers, meaning the other 12 conference schools combined for 11. Ten of the conference's 20 First Team All-America honors were earned by underclassmen, freshmen or sophomores. Of those 10, eight were by Boilermakers. Only 12 of the 20 women's First Team All-America honors were earned by individuals with eligibility remaining. Of those 12, Purdue accounted for nine.
Among Big Ten women, only three track individuals (not field or multi events) earned multiple First Team All-America honors. All three are Boilermakers, with Charlton, Cox and Thomas all earning two. Including the three Boilermakers, just four Big Ten women at the meet earned multiple First Team honors.
The men's two First Team All-America honors are tied for fourth most in the conference this season.
The Purdue women now have earned 45 First Team All-America honors since competing in the NCAA Championships in 1983, and 62 total including AIAW honors, during the outdoor season. On the men's side, the Boilermakers now have picked up 41 First Team All-America honors during the outdoor season.