The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Devynne Charlton and Carmiesha Cox share so many things in common. They came out of the same track club to attend Purdue University a year ago. And now as roommates, they continue to rewrite the Boilermakers’ indoor records.

Last week, Cox erased Charlton’s record in the 200 metres. But this weekend after she fell short of regaining the mark, Charlton broke a pair of records in a span of nine minutes as she ran five races and seemed to get stronger as the day went on.

“Devynne is showing me that she has a whole lot more in her tank. Usually, you would see a good break in the action before you go back to the starting line,” said Boilermakers’ head coach Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene, who is assisted by his Bahamian counterpart Norbert Elliott.

“Devynne literally broke the hurdles school record and had time to walk back to the starting line and then broke the 60 record. I think she has more room to grow. She has 7.20 in her. She had an outstanding day and now we just have to keep her healthy and navigate through the waters.”

Charlton opened with the 60-metre hurdles prelims and posted a time of 8.43 seconds to win her heat. That time was the second fastest of all three prelims and just 0.10 of a second off her own personal record.

She then returned after a short break before running in the 60m dash prelims. There, she won the first heat with a time of 7.51 seconds, just 0.04 of a second off her PR, for the third-fastest time in prelims. She advanced to finals in both.

After a couple hours, Charlton was back on the track for finals. First, she ran the 60m hurdles, where she ran away with the title in 8.23 seconds to win by 0.21 of a second. Not only that, the time was a PR by 0.10 seconds and broke Leah Kincaid’s school record of 8.25 seconds from January 26, 2008.

Just nine minutes later, Charlton was back at the starting line for the 60m dash finals. She got a good start and blazed to the line in 7.39 seconds, a PR by 0.08 of a second. Much more significant, Charlton tore down a 32-year-old school record in the event, which was held by Sybil Perry in 1983 with a time of 7.41 seconds.

Charlton didn’t have too long to relax, as she was back on the track within the hour. Her next event was the 200m dash, an event in which she held the school record for nearly a year, before teammate Carmiesha Cox broke it last week.

“It was a good meet for me. The setup worked perfectly in my favour,” Charlton told The Tribune in an interview on Sunday. “The 60m and 60m hurdles were back-to-back, but between semis and finals, I had a bit of time to relax, which is quite different from some of the other meets.”

Of the two performances, Charlton admitted that she enjoyed the 60m hurdles the most because it’s a more exciting race for her than the 60m, which is a short, straight race.

“I enjoyed it more,” she said.

Charlton didn’t quite retake the record, but she ran a 0.27 of a second PR and the school’s second-fastest mark in history with a time of 24.18 seconds. She won her heat and finished third overall.

“Carmiesha set a pretty good standard, so I was just in the mindset to get a good PR,” Charlton said. “We’re both performing very well and like the coaches told us, we haven’t backed off from our workload in practice yet and we haven’t started peaking in the weight room.

“So I think I’m in a good place and I will be in an even better place in a couple of weeks down the road.”

Cox, also a sophomore, didn’t compete in any individual events. Instead, she ran the third leg on the Boilermakers’ 4 x 400m relay team in a split close to 53 seconds as they crossed the finish line in 3:38.71 to break the previous school record of 3:40.10 that was set on March 7, 1998.

In other events over the weekend, senior Shavaz Hart, fresh off his world-leading time in the 200m the week before, posted a victory in the 60m in 6.69m at the Texas A&M Quadrangular inside the Gilliam Indoor Stadium.

Hart, competing for the Aggies, the alma mater of quarter-miler Demetrius Pinder, was also second in the 200m in 20.90. Hart had cooled down after running the sizzling world-leading time of 20.76 to highlight the Texas A&M Invitational a week ago.

At the University of Kentucky’s Rod McCravy Memorial, both Tynia Gaither and Tamara Myers failed to advance out of the preliminaries of the women’s 60m.

Gaither, a senior at the University of South Carolina, just missed it when she placed 10th overall in 7.45. The ninth and final qualifier ran 7.44. Myers, a senior at the University of Arkansas, was 33rd overall in 7.83.

Gaither, however, was third in the 200m in 23.66, while Myers had a much better showing on the field where she was third in the long jump with a leap of 6.27 metres or 20-feet, 7-inches. She didn’t compete in her specialty in the triple jump.

This weekend, a number of Bahamians will be in action at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.