WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Track & Field has its final split-squad week of the season when distance travels to the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (April 16-17) and the rest of the team heads to the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Florida (April 17-18).
Men’s Notes
• The 4x400m relay of Victory Achakpoekri, Samuel Vessat, Zach Mylenek and Zyan Greene set a new program record (3:02.15) and ranks fifth nationally. The team leads the Big Ten by 2.03 seconds this season and is the fifth-fastest outdoor time by a Big Ten program since 2012.
• Vessat is coming off a 20.48 in the 200m that ranks No. 2 by a European this season in addition to ranking No. 3 wind-legal and No. 10 overall in the NCAA. He broke 21 seconds for the first time in his career in Orlando (20.87) just two weeks before his 20.48 in Athens. The All-American 400m runner indoors prepares to run his first outdoor quarter mile as a Boilermaker this weekend.
• Seamus Malaski improved his national hammer throw ranking to No. 23 after he threw 66.54m (218-04) in Georgia. He is the third-best freshman nationally in the event. He is also 26th in the country in the shot put (18.51m / 60-08.75).
• Elliot Ryba is tied for ninth in the country in the high jump (2.16m / 7-01.00) and one of five Big Ten jumpers to clear at least 2.14m this season.
• Distance gears up for its second meet of the outdoor season, led by Nathan Walker who opened the season with the fifth-best 10,000m in school history (29:14.15). Douglas Buckeridge, who finished behind Walker in the first meet of the season, remains Purdue’s record holder in the event (28:51.46).
• A pair of triple jump All-Americans, Praise Aniamaka and Chidozie Kalu, prepare for their first meet of the outdoor season. Aniamaka is a two-time First Team All-American and three-time Big Ten Champion.
Women’s Notes
• Alexia Smith ran 51.89 in the 400m to enter the national rankings at No. 16 and sit second in the Big Ten. Her performance was No. 3 in school history and the best by a Boilermaker since 2018.
• The 4x400m relay of Smith, Marissa Palmer, Ashley Odiase and Gia Clay ran 3:32.04 for the No. 13 time nationally and No. 3 time in the Big Ten. The group produced the fourth-fastest performance in school history and best since 2018.
• Clay ran the No. 6 time in 400m school history (52.73) to move into the Big Ten’s top five. It was Clay’s outdoor personal best in the event by over two seconds.
• Britannie Johnson holds the No. 32 shot put mark nationally after she threw 16.23m (53-03.00) at the Spec Towns Invitational.
• Blessing Gideon improved her Big Ten triple jump ranking to No. 5 after a wind-aided 12.83m (42-01.25). She is No. 8 in school history with a wind-legal 12.67m (53-03.00).
Next Up
Purdue concludes the regular season at the Jim Green Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky (May 1-2).
