Heat Sheets
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The final meet before the championships season is on tap this weekend for the track & field teams. The Boilermakers head to Des Moines, Iowa, and the prestigious Drake Relays to compete Thursday through Saturday against some of the nation's toughest competition.
The women's team enters the meet ranked 15th in the country, the highest in-season outdoor ranking in school history. The women will have one more opportunity to move up conference, and national, lists prior to the Big Ten Championships in two weeks. Among those looking to move up is Carmiesha Cox in the 100-meter dash. Cox has yet to run the event this season, after scoring in it at Big Tens a year ago. Currently this season, the Boilermakers have four of the top nine 100m dashers in the conference.
The women's 100m hurdles will be hotly contested with 10 of the top 13 in the Big Ten scheduled to compete. Purdue's Devynne Charlton is currently No. 1 in the conference with a wind-legal season-best time of 12.97 seconds. Savannah Roberson and Shantyra Delaney are also entered and rank ninth and 10th in the league, respectively.
The Boilermakers will look to defend three titles from last year's Drake Relays. Savannah Carson was the winner of the long jump a year ago. This year, the junior ranks third in the NCAA in the event. Symone Black will look to defend her 400m hurdles title. She ranks fifth in the NCAA this year. The women's 4x200m relay won the event last year. This year, the group will be in the same heat as Iowa, Ohio State and Illinois.
On the men's side, Justin Veteto will have an opportunity to compete against some of the Big Ten's best in the 110m hurdles. Veteto ranks fourth in the conference this season and will be in the same heat as Iowa's Aaron Mallett, who is the Big Ten leader. The men's 400m hurdles will also be an event to keep an eye on. Obokhare Ikpefan ranks second in the Big Ten this season. He'll be up against conference leader David Kendziera of Illinois.
Anaquan Peterson will look to move up the conference lists in the long jump and triple jump. Peterson was a scorer in both events at the Big Ten Championships a year ago and currently ranks third in the conference in the triple jump.
Weather conditions are not expected to be ideal. Thursday's forecast calls for 59° Fahrenheit and partly cloudy. Friday temperatures are expected to top out at 53° with rain, while Saturday will be 47° and rainy.
Follow the action on Twitter @PurdueTrackXC.