Final Results / PDF Results
GENEVA, Ohio - The women's team competition came down to the final event - the women's 4x400-meter relay. The Boilermakers trailed Penn State 92.5 to 84, meaning Purdue would win the meet if it won the race and the Nittany Lions finished eighth or worse. The Boilermakers took care of business on their end, breaking the Big Ten record in the process with a time of 3:31.90, which ranks sixth in the NCAA this year, but Penn State managed to take fifth in the race giving Purdue its second consecutive runner-up finish with 94 points.
Devynne Charlton helped put the women's team in contention with a huge day in the 60-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash, all of which she qualified for by winning her heats Friday. Saturday, she started with the 60m dash, an event she has finished runner-up the last two years. This time she got her gold. Charlton ran a time of 7.26 seconds to win by 0.13 of a second. Her time broke her own school record by 0.04 of a second and is the No. 10 time in the country this year. Charlton's time was the fastest at the Big Ten Championships since 2012 and tied for the fastest by any woman in the Big Ten since that 2012 race.
Charlton is the first woman in school history to win the 60m dash Big Ten Championship.
Forty minutes after winning gold in the 60m dash, it was time for Charlton to put up her 60m hurdles title defense. She and Illinois' Pedrya Seymour, who led the Big Ten this season with a time of 7.98 seconds, were next to each other and went toe-to-toe the entire race. Charlton out-leaned Seymour with a time of 7.97 seconds, tying her own school record and facility record from last year's Big Ten meet, edging the Illinois runner by 0.01 of a second. Charlton's time ranks No. 2 in the NCAA this season and is the fastest by any woman in the country since Jan. 28 when Oregon's Sasha Wallace ran her nation-leading 7.91-seconds time.
Charlton is one of seven women in Big Ten history to win consecutive Big Ten 60m hurdles titles. She is one of just two to win the 60m dash and 60m hurdles at the same Big Ten Championships and the first since 2012.
Charlton is the only woman in school history to win the 60m hurdles Big Ten title.
Forty minutes after earning her second gold of the day, Charlton was back in the starting blocks for the 200m dash. She entered the race with a season-best time of 23.91 seconds and a personal best of 23.64 seconds. Those didn't stand in her way, as Charlton ran a PR time of 23.53 seconds, which ranks second in school history, just 0.05 of a second behind the school record. It took the fourth-fastest time in the country to keep Charlton from winning a third event in just under an hour and a half. Charlton's silver medal earned eight points for Purdue. It was her first medal in the 200m dash.
Charlton's finish is the highest-ever by a Boilermaker in the 200m dash at a Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Charlton, an indoor senior and outdoor junior, wraps up her Big Ten Indoor Championships career with 74 points scored, including 51 over the last two years. Her two-year total is more than three other schools managed to score in the same time frame.
Charlton wasn't the only one with an opportunity to defend a conference title. Sophomore Janae' Moffitt was looking to become the third Boilermaker in program history to repeat in the high jump and the first since Carrie Long in 2000 and 2001. She was successful. Moffitt wasn't as clean as a year ago, as she had a miss on three of her four clearances, compared to none last year, but it didn't matter. The sophomore was the only individual in the competition to clear 1.82m (5-11.50), a centimeter better than last year, which she did on her second attempt. Moffitt is just the eighth woman in Big Ten history to repeat as high jump champion during the indoor season. She is the first since 2004 and 2005 when Iowa's Peaches Roach did so.
Brionna Thomas also found herself on the top step of the podium Saturday. The junior claimed her first individual Big Ten gold medal after breaking the school record in the 400m dash. Thomas ran her usual race, staying towards the middle of the pack for the first 300 meters before turning on the jets around the final turn and passing the leaders on the last straightaway. It worked to perfection Saturday as she crossed the line in 52.43 seconds, which is the No. 8 time in the country this season. Thomas' finish is one spot higher than a year ago when she took the silver medal with a time of 52.48 seconds. She is the first Purdue woman to win the indoor 400m since Krissy Liphardt in 2001 and just the third in program history (also Khadijah Conda in 1999).
Symone Black also found her way onto the podium in the 400m dash with a season-best time. Black crossed the line in 52.79 seconds, just 0.01 of a second off her PR, to claim the bronze medal. The medal is her second in the event, after she took silver at the 2015 championships.
Freshman Chloe Abbott had as busy of a day as anyone. She was the first Boilermaker in action, though it wasn't on the track. Abbott started her day in the morning by singing the national anthem before track events commenced. A few hours later, she was in the 400m dash final and ran her second PR of the weekend. Abbott ran a time of 53.50 seconds to finish sixth in her first career Big Ten meet. The time is the second-fastest by a Purdue freshman in program history, just 0.03 of a second behind Black's freshman record from 2015. Her time ranks third overall in program history and 33rd in the country this season. Abbott is the fourth-fastest freshman in the event nationally this season.
Abbott, Black, Thomas and Jahneya Mitchell then capped the day with the 4x400m relay, the third and final event in which the women hoped to defend their title. The team had the top time entering the meet, but knew it had to win in order to give the team a chance. The four also knew they likely needed to improve their time in order to qualify for the NCAA Championships. They did both.
Black led off and ran her best opening leg of the season, giving the Boilermakers a sizeable lead. She then handed to Abbott who paced herself perfectly and kept the lead at the same distance. Mitchell was next on the track, stepping in for Carmiesha Cox who had to pull out of Saturday's action due to hamstring tightness. She ran a great leg and, again, kept the Boilermakers out front. Then it was Thomas' turn. She ran a patient final leg and staved off the threat from the challenging Ohio State Buckeyes. Thomas brought the baton across the line in a time of 3:31.90, which broke Purdue's own Big Ten record set last season by 0.17 of a second. The time ranks sixth in the country.
The women's 4x400m relay title is the seventh in school history. It is the first time since 1997 and 1998 that the Boilermakers repeated as champions. Black and Thomas were both on last year's champion team.
Purdue picked up two other medals Saturday, both on the men's side. Justin Veteto continued to build on his great season in the 60m hurdles. After qualifying with a PR time of 7.88 seconds Friday, Veteto backed it up Saturday with an identical time to take third. His time is seventh in school history and tied for 34th in the country this season. Veteto entered the meet No. 9 in the conference before winning his bronze medal.
Anaquan Peterson picked up the first medal of his indoor career in the triple jump. The senior entered finals in second place with a mark of 15.56m (51-0.50). He improved that distance on his final attempt, leaping 15.68m (51-5.50), which held on for third place and six points. The finish was two spots ahead of where he entered the meet. He ranks 24th in the country this season. Peterson is the first Purdue man to score in the triple jump since 2010.
Hear what head coach Lonnie Greene had to say after today's meet where the women finished runner-up. #BoilerUp https://t.co/t1sRjbTeGI
- PurdueTrack&Field (@PurdueTrackXC) February 26, 2017
The women's weight throwers picked up six points Saturday with five from Sarah Loesch and one from Alisha Bahler. Loesch threw 19.51m (64-00.25) to claim fourth place while Bahler had a huge season-best throw of 18.53m (60-9.50). Bahler entered the meet 18th in the conference before finishing eighth and scoring a point.
The men's 4x400m relay team grabbed five points for its fourth place finish Saturday. The team of Kinard Rolle, Kyle Webb, Obokhare Ikpefan and Shawndail McLaren just missed the school record and finished with a time of 3:06.63, just 0.04 of a second off the program standard. Ikpefan filled in for Malcolm Dotson who pulled out of the race, and the 200m dash finals, after tightening up in the 60m dash finals. Dotson did score three points in the 60m dash after finishing sixth. He ran a time of 6.75 seconds.
Kiara McIntosh was another fourth-place finisher for the Boilermakers. She earned her five points in the women's 800m run. McIntosh ran a time of 2:08.87. Savannah Roberson added two points in the 200m dash with a seventh-place finish time of 23.75 seconds. Sekayi Bracey had the second fastest 60m dash race of her career and finished fifth in the race. She earned her four points with a time of 7.45 seconds.
Eric Blackman and Jaret Carpenter both scored for the men's team Saturday. Blackman cleared a Purdue-best height of 2.11m (6-11.00). That earned him a tie for seventh place and 1.5 points. Carpenter finished eighth in the men's 5k with a time of 14:10.72 to earn one point.
The men's team finished 10th with 33.5 points, an improvement of two spots and 6.5 points from last season's indoor meet.
The women's team's runner-up finish is its second in a row and fourth in indoor program history. The women have finished in the top three in the conference three years in a row, the first time the Purdue women have ever achieved that feat.
With wins in the women's long jump and high jump, the Purdue women now have won 33 field event Big Ten titles in program history. That total is five more than the next closest school (Illinois).
The Boilermakers now wait for official NCAA Championships declarations. The top 16 declared individuals in each event advance, while the top 12 relay teams will compete for the national title. Currently, Charlton is second in the 60m hurdles and t-10th in the 60m dash, Thomas is eighth in the 400m dash, Black is 14th in the 400m dash, the women's 4x400m relay is sixth, Moffitt is tied for 12th in the high jump and Savannah Carson is eighth in the long jump.