The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DEVYNNE Charlton, inspired by one of her role models of the sport in the stands watching her perform on Saturday, began her final outdoor season for the Purdue Boilermakers by breaking an eight-year-old school record that was previously held by American Lolo Jones.

At the LSU Battle on the Bayou, Charlton broke the 100-metre hurdles school record for the 11th-ranked Boilermakers with a wind-legal (+1.6) time of 12.70 seconds. That time broke her own school record by 0.04 of a second. It also broke the Bernie Moore Track Stadium record, previously held by Olympian Lolo Jones, by 0.01 of a second.

“I didn’t expect to run that fast this early in the season, but the conditions were right and it came down to a perfect execution over the hurdles,” Charlton told The Tribune. “I executed a bit better, but I had to push harder out of the blocks and tried to stay mechanically sound the rest of the race.”

With Jones in the stands, Charlton predicted that if she was there, she would do something special and came through in true form. She smashed the record which had stood since 2010.

Charlton is now within 0.06 of a second of the Bahamian national record of 12.64 set by Texas senior transfer Pedrya Seymour at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I feel pretty good about the upcoming season. If you look back, I ran a PR of 12.9 and I am much further ahead of where I was then, so I am expecting something special to happen this year,” said Charlton, who is in her final season at Purdue under the leadership of Bahamian coach Rolando Greene and assistant Norbert Elliott.

After the performance, Charlton won the 100m in a windy (+2.1) time of 11.34 seconds and she also led off the 4x100-metre relay team that included senior Savannah Roberson, junior Yakira Love and senior Savannah Carson.

Charlton and the Boilermakers, which also features Bahamians Carmiesha Cox, Tamar Greene, Keanu Pennerman and Kinard Rolle, are back in action at the Louisville Invitational next week.