The Tribune

DEVYNNE CHARLTON and Kinard Rolle were among three Purdue University Boilermakers named Athletes of the Week in the Big Ten Conference following their performances at the Gene Edmonds Open in West Lafayette, Indiana over the weekened.

Rolle’s track athlete of the week honour comes on the heels of a nation-leading mark in the 400m dash. The junior won the race on Purdue’s 200m flat track with a time of 47.89 seconds, which converts to 47.14 seconds. That time is 0.22 of a second better than anyone else in the country this season.

Rolle also ran a leg of the winning 4x400-metre relay team, which finished with a time of 3:15.27. That time converts to 3:12.21, which ranks fifth in the country. Rolle is Purdue’s first man to win the conference track athlete of the week since Obokhare Ikpefan, who picked up the honour on December 15, 2014.

Coincidentally, Rolle ran the second leg of Saturday’s 4x400m relay and handed off to Ikpefan. However, he shared the honour with Anaquan Peterson, who won his second indoor honour of his career and first of his season after he won both the long and triple jumps.

Charlton picks up her first Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week four days after winning the 60-metre dash and 60-meter hurdles. Charlton broke the school record in the 60m dash with a time of 7.30 seconds, edging previous school-record holder Savannah Carson by 0.09 of a second in the final.

Charlton’s time ranks third in the country, best in the Big Ten and was the fastest time in the nation for the week. She then ran the hurdles final just minutes later and won with a time of 8.14 seconds. That time is second in the country this year and was the fastest nationally over the weekend. That time is faster than any other woman in school history has run and 0.17 of a second off her PR.

Despite earning the Big Ten Track Athlete of the Championships award at the indoor meet last year, Charlton had never earned a weekly honour. She is Purdue’s first woman to win a weekly award since Carson on December 16, 2015.