The Tribune

BAHAMIAN Devynne Charlton was named the top athlete of the Big Ten Track Championships, it was announced by the conference office on Tuesday.

Charlton scored 28 points to win two gold medals and a silver over the weekend to earn the award for the second year in a row.

She was nearly perfect at Big Ten, winning all three of her preliminary heats Friday, with one in the 60-metre dash, 60-metre hurdles and 200-metre dash. Saturday, she opened her day by breaking the school record to win the 60m dash with a time of 7.26 seconds, which ranks 11th in the country.

About 40 minutes later, she was back on the track to defend her 60m hurdles title, which she did by tying her own school record and Bahamian record with a time of 7.97 seconds. That time ranks second in the country.

Another 40 minutes went by before she was on the track in the 200m dash final, where she ran the No. 2 time in programme history, No. 33 in the country, crossing the line in 23.53 seconds to take the silver medal.

Charlton is the first woman in program,e history to win the 60m dash Big Ten title. She is also the only woman in school history to win the 60m hurdles conference title and now has two of them to her name.

No Purdue woman has ever won a 200m dash conference title, making Charlton’s second-place finish in the event the best in school history.

The 60m dash and 60m hurdles have been contested at the Big Ten Championships since 1999. Prior to that, the 55-metre dash and 55-metre hurdles were held from 1985 to 1998, while the 60-yard dash and 60-yard hurdles existed from 1982 to 1987, except for 1985 which contested both events at 55-meters.

Sybil Perry won the 60-yard dash in 1982 and 1983, while Alicia Bass won the 55-metre hurdles in 1985.

Charlton is just the second woman in Big Ten history to win the 60m dash and 60m hurdles at the same meet. The feat occurred four times in the 55-metre hurdles and 55-metre dash by three different individuals.

Charlton is the second woman in conference history to earn Big Ten Track Athlete of the Championships in back-to-back years and the first since 2012 when Christina Manning of Ohio State did so. Like Charlton, Manning won the 60m dash, 60m hurdles and was runner-up in the 200m dash. Charlton’s 28 points at the conference meet are the most since Manning.

Four women earned back-to-back Athlete of the Championships honours prior to the award being split into track as well as field distinctions.

Over the last two seasons, Charlton scored 51 points at Big Ten Indoor Championships. The total is more than three schools scored in the same time frame.

Charlton is an NCAA Championships qualifier in the 60m dash and 60m hurdles. A year ago, she finished third at the meet in hurdles. Final declarations and entries will be announced later this week. Chartlon also picked up Purdue’s Sportsmanship Award on the women’s side. For the men, the honour went to Justin Veteto, who earned a bronze medal in the 60m hurdles.