The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Purdue Boilermakers, led by Devynne Charlton, had a rare treat on Saturday as they welcomed the University of the Bahamas to West Lafayette, In- diana, for their first indoor track and field meet at Lambert Field- house.

Competing at the Fred Wilt Open, Charlton won the final of the women’s 60 metres in a time of 7.34 seconds, 0.04 of a second off her PR.

Right behind the junior was her Boilermaker senior Carmie- sha Cox, who ran a time of 7.35 seconds to finish second, a PR by 0.06 of a second and the second week in a row with a lifetime best.

Cox’s time ranks third in school history, second in the Big Ten this season and 18th in the country.

Ronnecia Ferguson, one of the eight athletes representing the University of the Bahamas, fin- ished sixth in 7.83.

Cox qualified with the fastest time of the Bahamian trio in 7.54 with Charlton running 7.82 and Ferguson doing 7.97.

Charlton wasn’t done yet as she picked up a second place in the 200m with a time of 24.28 seconds, which converts to 23.91 seconds. Her converted time is fourth in the conference this year.

“I was relatively pleased with my performance over the week- end,” Charlton told The Tribune. “I took a break from hurdling this time just to have a break in mo- notony and I got to run the 200 for the first time this season.” Her goal in the race was to run a little faster and eventually get a conversion of 23.8, but Charlton said she was satisfied with her ef- fort as she prepares for the Big Ten Conference Championships when she competes in the 60m,

60m hurdles and the 200m. She also noted that she was de- lighted to see the team from the University of the Bahamas com- pete. “Quite a number of them either made it back to the finals or just missed the cut and their 4 x 4 relay team placed within the top three.” Behind Northern Illinois (3:50.68), Purdue, with Cox on the third leg, ran 3:51.23 for second.

The University of the Bahamas ran 4:07.57 for third with the combo of Gabrielle Shannon, An- tonishka Deveaux, Beyonce Scott and Ronnecia Ferguson.

“The meet was great, I am pleased with my lifetime best,” Cox said. “However, there is always room for improvement. It was also great to see the University of the Bahamas there represented. It was a good step for them moving for- ward and having more experiences in the collegiate arena.”

Shannon was 12th in the 200m in 26.21, while Scott participated in the 60m hurdles, coming in 11th

in 9.70m and she was entered in the high jump as well, but didn’t get in a height.

On the men’s side, Keanu Pen- nerman had the third fastest quali- fying time of 6.87, but he didn’t get to finish his race in the final. There was no indication of whether or not he was injured. Aaron Cox of the University of the Bahamas was 10th in the preliminaries in 7.21.

In the 200, Leonard Romer ran 24.75 for 14th place, but it wasn’t enough to get him into the final.

But in the 400m, Tyler Gardiner of the University of the Bahamas came in 16th in 56.34.

The University of the Bahamas had two competitors in the 60m

hurdles and they both advanced to the final.

Ken Mullings had the best show- ing, running 8.22 for the second fastest qualifier before he lowered it to 8.14 for second in the final be- hind Purdue’s Justin Veteto, who won in 8.07. Munnings’ team-mate Avery Thompson qualified fourth in 8.27 and ended up third in the final in 8.22.

On the field, Munnings showed some of his versatility as a decath- lete by clearing 2.06m or 6-feet, 9-inches for second place, the same height done by Purdue’s champion Eric Blackman on fewer knock- downs. Stony Duncanson, another University of the Bahamas com-

petitor, was fourth with 1.96m (6-5). And in the men’s long jump, Aar- on Cox got sixth with 6.50m (21-4). UB head coach Rupert Gardiner said he was surprised by the team’s performance because the athletes have never competed in an indoor

meet before. He said he and assistant coach

Ednal Rolle will sit down with UB’s Athletic Director Kim Rolle and decide on which course of ac- tion they will take as they look at the remainder of the track season for the athletes.

He said they have a very young team, comprising mainly of fresh- men, so the future looks bright for UB.