The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamian connection in athletics has paid major dividends for the University of Purdue Boilermakers.

Led by a pair of Bahamians - head coach Lonnie Greene and associate head coach Norbert Elliot (men’s sprints/hurdles/relays) - the Boilermakers’ men’s and women’s track and field teams were both ranked in the latest edition of the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.

They were the only team in the Big Ten Conference, and one of 15 schools nationally, to be ranked in both polls, with the women at No.21 and the men at No.22. It was the fifth time in the programme’s history both teams have achieved the honour simultaneously.

The women’s team has undergone a drastic change from early in the season as they entered the year with a pre-season ranking of No.48.

Greene has been at the helm since July 2012 following a 16-year stint at Arkansas. At Purdue, Greene has led 19 Boilermakers to 35 All-America Honours, with 21 first teamers, 10 second teamers and four Honourable Mention honourees.

This ranking comes off a historic 2014-15 season in which the Boilermakers broke 18 different school records during the indoor and outdoor seasons.

The women’s team fielded nine First Team All-America honours at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the most in the programme’s history.

Elliot joined the Purdue staff in August 2012 following career coaching stops at Campbell, Tennessee, Murray State, Georgia and the University of Texas at El Paso.

A former Bahamian national team head coach - most notably at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2001 Edmonton World Championships - Elliot ‘s coaching techniques and recruitment have been integral throughout his career.

The pair have taken that Bahamian presence to the track with four Bahamian student athletes on the roster including Devynne Charlton, Carmeisha Cox, Kinard Rolle and Keannu Pennerman.

Charlton, the most decorated of the group, is currently ranked fourth in the NCAA in the 60m hurdles.

In January at the Conference Clash in Birmingham, Alabama, the junior sprinter clocked 8.11 secs to win the race, then the second fastest collegiate time in the world this year. In the process, she also broke the Bahamian national record and qualified for the world indoor championships in Eugene, Oregon, in March.The previous Bahamian record of 8.13 was set by Ivanique Kemp on March 2, 2012, at the Arkansas Field Qualifier in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Charlton is now a holder of both the indoor and outdoor national records. In the 100m her time of 13.00 secs is tied with Adanaca Brown.

In 2015, Charlton earned two First Team All-America honours at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and a Second Team All-America honour indoors.

Cox, also a junior,  has contested the 200m this season and continues as a member of its prolific 4 x 400m team.

Last season she earned two First Team All-America honours at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and was a member of the 400m  team that finished fourth and 4 x 100m team that finished sixth at the NCAA Championships.

The men’s side features sophomore quarter-miler Rolle, who figures prominently into the men’s 4 x 400m plans this season. This season Rolle has run 48.27secs in the individual 400m and his team has run 3 min 09.50 secs which ranks No.23 in the country.

Pennerman, the freshman sprinter comes to the Boilermakers following a storied junior career at the national level.