ATHENS, Ga. – Purdue Track & Field’s men’s 4x400m sets a new school record (3:02.15) to close out Purdue’s strong weekend at the Spec Towns Invitational that featured 10 top 10 performances in school history.
Men’s Notes
• The 4x400m team of Victory Achakpoekri, Samuel Vessat, Zach Mylenek and Zyan Greene’s time of 3:02.15 shattered the previous record of 3:03.64 set last season. At the time of the race, the performance was fifth in the country and best by a Big Ten team by over two seconds.
• Elliot Ryba cleared a person best 2.16m (7-01.00) to finish third in a stacked high jump field. The clearance is tied for a top 10 mark nationally this season.
• Seamus Malaski closed out Purdue’s field events with a fifth-place finish in the discus (53.89m / 176-09).
• Zion Jackson qualified for the 110mH finals for a third consecutive meet and finished sixth (14.20).
• Jordan Moulton took eighth in the 100m (10.85).
Women’s Notes
• Purdue's 400m duo of Alexia Smith (51.89) and Gia Clay (52.73) run the No. 3 and No. 6 times in program history. They finished second and fifth at the Spec Towns Invitational. Smith's time is 16th in the nation.
• Britannie Johnson had a big improvement in her shot put ranking jumping up to No. 3 in school history after she threw 16.23m (53-03.00). The mark places her 30th in the nation.
• The 4x400m team of Alexia Smith, Marissa Palmer, Ashley Odiase and Gia Clay ran 3:32.04 to enter Purdue’s rankings at No. 4. It was the fastest performance by the Boilermakers since the school record of 3:26.71 was set on May 26, 2018.
• The 4x100m of Nia Wilson, Palmer, Odiase and Jayla Cooper took a runner-up finish in the event.
• Blessing Gideon jumped a wind-legal 12.67m (41-07.00) to move up in the record book to No. 8. She had a further jump, a wind-aided 12.80m (42-00.00) that placed her seventh.
• Amarianna Lofton cleared 1.80m (5-10.75) to enter the top 30 nationally at the time of her performance. The clearance placed her fourth in a stacked field on Saturday.
• Twin duo of Britannia (52.39m / 171-10) and Britannie Johnson (51.90m / 170-03) placed fourth and sixth in the discus.
• Nia Wilson ran a wind-legal 11.53 in the 100m to tie her No. 8 mark in school history.
Next Up
Purdue gears up for its penultimate regular season meets of the outdoor season with split squad action between the Wake Forest Invitational (April 16-17) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the Tom Jones Memorial (April 17-18) in Gainesville, Florida.
