Feb. 27, 2016Hear what coach Greene had to say after today's Big Ten Championships. #BoilerUp https://t.co/7g7Il5Bg5k
-- PurdueTrack&Field (@PurdueTrackXC) February 28, 2016
Final Results / Photos
GENEVA, Ohio - The track & field teams won four events Saturday at the Big Ten Championships, including three by the women. The Boilermakers broke five school records, an all-time Big Ten record, a Bahamian national record and one facility record on the final day of the meet. The women had their best finish in 15 years, taking second place as a team with 102 points, the third-highest total in program history. The men, battling a banged up lineup, finished 12th with 27 points.
The final event of the day proved to be the most exciting for the Purdue women. The women's 4x400-meter relay team of Aarin Jones, Carmiesha Cox, Symone Black and Brionna Thomas stepped onto the track as the second-fastest relay team in school history, though Jones, Thomas and Black were all part of the school record. The team ranked third in the conference entering the meet with a season-best time of 3:37.59.
They knew that wasn't good enough.
Jones ran a strong opening leg and was third to make the first handoff. Cox was next and immediately cut the gap, briefly putting the Boilermakers in second, before handing off to Black in third. The sophomore from Fort Wayne, Indiana, ran a patient leg before pulling Purdue into the lead at the end of her leg. Black handed to Thomas, also from Fort Wayne. The sophomore made her biggest move during the final 100m, where she left Ohio State and Iowa in the dust to win the Big Ten title with a time of 3:32.07. Not only was that time the best in the race; it was the best in the history of Big Ten indoor track, breaking the previous conference and SPIRE record of 3:33.30 set by Illinois in 2013 by well over a second. The time obliterated Purdue's school record by 4.88 seconds and ranks fourth in the country this season. The team is the sixth in school history to win an indoor Big Ten title and the first since 2001.
Devynne Charlton had an incredible day on the track for the women as well. The junior from Nassau, Bahamas, scored 23 points with a gold medal, silver medal and a fourth place finish. She began her day with the 60m dash, where she qualified for the finals after trying her PR with the school's No. 2 time of 7.38 seconds. In the finals, Charlton ran the best race of her career and crossed the finish line towards the front of a crowd. Several seconds went by before the official results were posted, showing Charlton finished second with a time of 7.33 seconds. That time identically matched the winning time run by Iowa's Lake Kwaza, but officials reviewed three separate finish line cameras and determined Kwaza's time was 0.003 of a second faster than Charlton. Charlton's time ranks second in school history, just 0.01 of a second off Savannah Carson's school record.
Charlton didn't have long to rest as she had the 60m hurdles finals just 40 minutes later, where she would be up against the nation's No. 1 hurdler, Cindy Ofili from Michigan. Charlton had beaten her in the prelims - and the 60m dash finals - but knew she needed to do it when it counted.
And she did.
Charlton used tremendous ground speed after clearing each hurdle to build a lead on Ofili and the rest of the field. She ran the best time of her career by 0.11 of a second, crossing the line in 7.97 seconds to become the first woman in school history to run sub 8-seconds in the event. Her time broke the facility record by 0.05 of a second, is a new Bahamian national record and is tied for the fastest time in the country this season. Her time was also just 0.02 of a second off the Big Ten record.
Charlton became Purdue's first woman to win the 60m hurdles Big Ten championship, and just the second woman to win an indoor conference championship in the hurdles, as Alicia Bass won the 55m hurdles in 1985.
Still, she wasn't done.
Another 40 minutes passed before she was back on the starting line for her sixth race in 24 hours, the 200m dash finals. Charlton blazed out of the blocks and hung among the top runners, before breaking the school record she set Friday by crossing the line in 23.64 seconds to take fourth place.
Charlton's 23 points were the most by any individual at this year's conference championships.
Freshman Janae' Moffitt had a breakout day in the women's high jump. She opened at 1.65m (5-5.00) and cleared the bar with ease on her first attempt. She was one of 23 to clear the bar and one of 16 to clear it on her first attempt. The height was then raised to 1.70m (5-7.00) and again, Moffitt was perfect on her first attempt. There, she was one of 17 to clear and one of 10 to be perfect through the first two bars. Moffitt then cleared the next bar on her first attempt at 1.74m (5-8.50). After that clearance, she was one of just nine left in the competition and one of five still perfect. The freshman's next bar was a big one, as she cleared 1.78m (5-10.00) on her first attempt. That height matched her Purdue best, which she had cleared just once earlier in the season. That clearance assured her points, as one of just seven left in the competition and one of just three still perfect. Moffitt then cleared 1.81m (5-11.25) again on her first attempt, giving her a clean sheet through her first five bars for the first time in her career. Of the two other jumpers to clear that height, the only one that had been perfect going into the bar missed on her first attempt, meaning Moffitt was the leader. That's where things would finish, as Moffitt nor the other two competitors would clear 1.84m (6-0.50), giving Moffitt the Big Ten crown in her first trip to the meet.
Moffitt was the only freshman on the women's side to win a Big Ten title, including members of relay teams. She won Purdue's ninth women's indoor championship in the high jump and the first since 2001. She is the first Boilermaker to score in the event since 2011.
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi was also a champion Saturday, claiming his first indoor conference crown. Enekwechi had four throws that were better than anyone else in the competition, including a best of 23.76m (77-11.50). Enekwechi had three marks well over 23 meters, which is a mark that no other thrower in the country has hit even once this season. The senior scored 18 points at his final Big Ten Indoor Championships, which gives him a four-year total of 55 points at the meet. Enekwechi is the third Purdue man to win the weight throw conference title and the first since 2008. His title is the fifth for Purdue men.
The men's 4x400m relay team found its way onto the podium after breaking the school record. The team of Nicholas Parks, Kyle Webb, Kinard Rolle and Shawndail McLaren had the lead late with the fastest pace in program history. McLaren brought it home, crossing the finish line in 3:06.59. The team is the first in school history to break 3:07 and the time ranks 11th in the country this year.
Webb also scored in the 200m dash. After qualifying for finals Friday, Webb ran a time of 21.39 seconds to finish eighth and earn a point for the men's side.
The women's team had three other finalists in the 60m dash, aside from Charlton. Carson ran a time of 7.35 seconds, just 0.03 of a second off her career best and 0.02 of a second behind the winning time. She finished fourth to earn five points. Cox finished sixth in the final with a time of 7.44 seconds, while Autumn Heath took seventh in 7.54 seconds.
Vania Anane picked up where the rest of the women's jumpers left off. Anane had a huge indoor PR, leaping 12.53m (41-1.50) on her first attempt. That distance ranks seventh in program history. Though she did not improve her mark, Anane had three more jumps that were better than her indoor PR heading into the meet. The junior finished fifth overall, earning four points for the Boilermakers.
The Purdue women were well represented in the 400m dash finals, claiming three of the eight lanes. Thomas was in after running a career-best 53.43 in the prelims. In the finals, though, she dialed it up. The sophomore became the first woman in school history to run a sub-53-second time, crossing the finish line in 52.48 seconds, beating her PR from the day before by 0.95 of a second. Her time of 53.43 seconds Friday was then an indoor PR by 1.39 seconds, meaning in one weekend, she shaved 2.34 seconds off her best indoor quarter mile. Thomas' time was good for a silver medal and is the 11th fastest time in the country this season.
Black became the second Boilermaker in school history to run a sub-53-second time. She crossed the finish line two spots and just 0.30 of a second behind Thomas. Her time is 21st in the country and ranks second in program history. Aarin Jones finished eighth in the race to earn a point for the women.
Katie Hoevet also earned a silver medal Saturday. The senior was in the top two of the women's mile race from start to finish, eventually crossing the line in 4:40.94. Hoevet medaled in the event for the second straight year, after finishing third last season. Elizabeth Iversen grabbed one point for the women in the weight throw. She finished eighth with a PR performance, throwing 19.27m (63-2.75). That distance ranks sixth in school history.
The women finished second with 102 points, both the program's best since 2001 when the women won the conference with 108 points. The women have now finished second in the Big Ten three times. Purdue improved its finish from last season by a 34 points and one place. Michigan won the women's title with 109 points.
On the men's side, the Boilermakers were without the Big Ten triple jump leader and No. 2 long jumper Anaquan Peterson and the 2015 Big Ten Outdoors 5k runner-up and indoors bronze medalist in the event Matthew McClintock, who were both out with injuries sustained during the week. The men finished 12th with 27 points.
The Boilermakers will now wait to find out official NCAA Championships qualifiers. The national championships are in two weeks in Birmingham, Alabama.
Watch the women's 4x400m team win the B1G title with the No. 4 time in the country!! Boilers look good in gold! https://t.co/Hm7YnQxcgp
-- PurdueTrack&Field (@PurdueTrackXC) February 27, 2016
Watch Devynne Charlton break the school record with the t-1 time in the country - 7.97 to become B1G Champion! https://t.co/noVgyNprDi
-- PurdueTrack&Field (@PurdueTrackXC) February 27, 2016
Here's the women's 400m final, where Thomas and Black both broke previous school record! #BoilerUp https://t.co/iGBK5hyzen
-- PurdueTrack&Field (@PurdueTrackXC) February 27, 2016
What does a B1G championship-winning 1.81m/5-11.25 clean 1st att HJ look like for @janaemoffitt97? Here ya go! pic.twitter.com/e9hmKEzLPb
-- PurdueTrack&Field (@PurdueTrackXC) February 28, 2016