WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Devynne Charlton was tabbed the Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday. Charlton picks up the honor after breaking two school records at the Drake Relays over the weekend. It is the first outdoor weekly award of her career.
Charlton was in the elite section of the women's 100-meter hurdles and was up against seven of the world's best, all professional runners. Despite the cold weather and rain, Charlton turned in the best wind-legal performance of her career, finishing with a school-record time of 12.89 seconds (+1.0). She led the race through the first few hurdles before world-record holder Kendra Harrison eventually went on to win. Charlton finished ahead of three Olympic finalists, including bronze medalist Kristi Castlin.
Charlton's time leads the Big Ten and ranks sixth in the NCAA this season.
The redshirt junior was also the lead leg of the women's shuttle hurdle relay. She went up against another Rio Olympics finalist in her leg - Pedrya Seymour of Illinois. Charlton got out to her great start and gave Purdue a sizeable lead before Savannah Roberson, Symone Black and Shantyra Delaney brought home the win with a school-record time of 53.85 seconds.
Charlton also helped the women's 4x100-meter relay team run the fastest prelims at the meet. The team posted a time of 45.11 seconds to win its heat and advance to finals, but then did not start in the finals.
The Boilermakers will next be in action at the Big Ten Championships, hosted by Penn State. The meet begins Friday, May 12 and runs through Sunday, May 14.