Final Results
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The women's track & field team put up 133 points and ran away with the 2017 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, hosted by Penn State. The title is the first outdoors since 1999 and the third in program history. The men's team finished 10th with 41 points, including a Big Ten title Sunday from Anaquan Peterson in the triple jump.
The meet was decided before the final event - the women's 4x400-meter relay - as the women had 125 points, while the next closest team had 100.5. The 15th-ranked women's team built that lead on the back of four Sunday gold medals and three silvers. Devynne Charlton was dominant, claiming three gold medals in a span of 60 minutes.
"God is great. I knew we had the type of team from the indoor season that could win this meet," head coach Lonnie Greene said. "To cap it off the way the kids capped it off is phenomenal. To know that we didn't even have to run the mile relay because we already had the meet wrapped up is phenomenal. We had a perfect day. The elements we had to deal with, to score 100 points, the kids rallied. Devynne (Charlton) - she's Devynne and was unbelievable to do what she did. We had a perfect day in the sprints and hurdles and relays and that put us over the top."
The women scored 100 points on the final day of the meet, paced by 21 in the 100m dash, 20 in the 200m dash and 12 in the 400m dash.
The 4x100m relay was the first event on the track and set the tone. Charlton led off and gave Purdue a lead before handing the baton to Carmiesha Cox. She had the tough part of the race, running into a stiff breeze. Cox maintained Purdue's lead, before Savannah Roberson kept the team out front. Savannah Carson finished the job, bringing home the win with a time of 44.79 seconds. That time was more than half a second faster than any other team, giving the women their third straight win, after never having previously won the event at the conference meet.
Charlton then headed to the 100m hurdles finals looking for her first conference title in the event. She got it in impressive fashion. The junior got out to her usual good started and then blistered the track with a windy (+3.6) time of 12.67 seconds to win by 0.31 of a second. Her time is tied for the second fastest in the country this season.
Next it was time for Charlton to head to the 100m dash finals, an event she won as a sophomore in 2015. Again, she got out to a lead and out-legged the rest of the field, including three teammates, posting a wind-legal (+1.9) time of 11.31 seconds. That broke Carson's school record time of 11.35 seconds which was set last year.
Charlton also competed in the 200m dash and finished fifth with a windy (+2.7) time of 23.17 seconds. Charlton scored 26.5 points at the meet.
The women also won a Big Ten title in the 400m hurdles. Like Charlton, Symone Black won the event at the 2015 championships, and then was runner-up a year ago. Black beat the field to the first hurdle and never looked back, finishing with a time of 56.01 seconds to break her own school record.
The women took home silver medals in the 400m dash, 200m dash and 4x400m relay. Brionna Thomas came out of lane 9 in the 400m dash to cross the finish line with a time of 52.87 seconds and earn the silver medal. Roberson came out of lane 3 in the 200m dash to post a windy (+2.7) time of 22.81 seconds to finish runner-up. The 4x400m relay team of Jahneya Mitchell, Chloe Abbott, Black and Thomas wrapped the meet up with a time of 3:33.13 to finish second. That time ranks third in school history.
Roberson also picked up four points in the 100m hurdles with a fifth-place windy time of 13.21 seconds. Cox added 10 points with five in the 200m dash with a fourth-place finish time of 23.04 and five in the 100m dash with a time of 11.48 seconds. Abbott added seven points four for a fifth place finish in the 400m dash and three for a sixth-place finish in the 200m dash. Her times were 53.64 seconds and 23.20 seconds, respectively. Sekayi Bracey scored in her first outdoor Big Ten Championships with a seventh place finish in the 100m dash with a time of 11.61 seconds.
Kiara McIntosh added to the score in the 800m run. She finished fourth in the event with a time of 2:05.96 seconds to score five points. That time is the second fastest of her career behind only her prelims time from Saturday.
On the men's side, Peterson took control of the triple jump from his opening attempt. He leapt a windy (+2.3) 16.06m (52-8.25) to take the lead. On his third attempt, he improved with a mark (+2.6) of 16.26m (53-4.25). That mark gave him the lead heading into finals, where he would pass on his final two attempts and claim the win. It is Peterson's first win in the event and the first for Purdue since 1998 when Michael Turner won. Peterson is only the second Boilermaker to win the event at Big Tens and claims the program's fourth overall title in it.
Obokhare Ikpefan grabbed a silver medal in the 400m hurdles for the second year in a row. He had a slight lead coming down the homestretch before finishing with a time of 51.11 seconds to take second. His time was within 0.23 of a second of the win.
Ikpefan also medaled as part of the 4x400m relay. Kinard Rolle led off before handing off to Kyle Webb. He moved the stick to Ikpefan, who kept Purdue among the top three, before handing to Shawdail McLaren. McLaren brought the stick across the line in 3:05.65 to earn the bronze medal. The time is Purdue's fastest of the season and ranks second in school history.
The men added 15 points with fourth place finishes in the 110m hurdles, 4x100m relay and the high jump. Justin Veteto ran a very windy (+6.2) time of 13.77 seconds in the 100m hurdles. The team of Gerald McGee, Rolle, Webb and McLaren finished with a time of 40.83 seconds in the 4x100m relay, while Eric Blackman was clean through 2.14m (7-0.25) to take fourth in the high jump.
Next up for the Boilermakers is the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds. Draws for the meet will be announced next week.