USTFCCCA Poll
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The men's and women's track & field teams are both ranked in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, which was released Monday. The women are ranked 21st, while the men check in at No. 22. The Boilermakers are the only Big Ten team to be ranked in the top 25 on both men's and women's sides.
The Boilermakers have been in the top 25 on both sides at the same time just five in times in program history, including this week. The last time it happened was the week seven poll in 2014 when the men were 21st and the women 22nd. Of the five times, just four have been during the regular season, and three of those four have occurred in the four seasons since head coach Rolando Greene took over at Purdue., The Boilermakers are in elite company, as just 15 schools in the country currently have their men's and women's programs ranked in the top 25.
The women jumped eight spots in the latest poll, after coming in ranked 29th last week. The men moved up one spot from 23rd last week and have been in the top 25 all season long. Chukwuebuka Enekwechi is doing a lot of the heavy lifting on the men's side, literally and figuratively, as the senior thrower leads every thrower in the world in the weight throw this season, and is sixth in the NCAA in the shot put. Enekwechi has won the Big Ten Field Athlete of the Week award four times this season, once for every meet in which he has competed, with potential to earn a fifth Wednesday when the conference office makes the announcement.
The women have several individuals who have propelled them from a preseason ranking of 48th all the way up to 21. Devynne Charlton is fourth in the country in the 60-meter hurdles, while Savannah Carson has top 15 marks in the 60m dash and long jump, including seventh in the latter. Katie Hoevet chipped in with a strong performance in the mile two weeks ago at the Meyo Invitational, where she broke the school record with the nation's No. 9 time.
The Boilermakers have their final tune-up this weekend with the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame on Saturday. The single-day meet is one week ahead of the two-day Big Ten Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.