Big Ten Announces Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Individual Honors
Indiana’s Sydney Clute, Penn State’s Danae Rivers and Purdue’s Devynne Charlton collect conference accolades
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced the 2017 Big Ten women’s outdoor track & field individual award winners on Wednesday. Purdue’s Devynne Charlton was named Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year, Indiana’s Sydney Clute earned Field Athlete of the Year honors and Penn State’s Danae Rivers collected Freshman of the Year laurels.
The Boilermakers’ Charlton took home a pair of gold medals at the Big Ten Championships, winning the 100-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles. Her time of 12.67 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles broke the Big Ten Championship record of 12.68 previously set by Indiana’s Danielle Carruthers in 2002. The junior also ran the opening leg of the women’s 4×100-meter relay, contributing to a first-place result. The Nassau, Bahamas, native finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships with a school-record time of 12.74, becoming the only woman in Purdue’s history to earn first team All-America honors since the NCAA began sponsoring a championship. Charlton becomes Purdue’s second track standout to earn the annual honor and the first since Corissa Yasen in 1995.
Clute earned a first-place finish and claimed a Big Ten record in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.43 meters at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. The Greenwood, Ind., native claimed her third outdoor first-team All-America honor in the pole vault at the NCAA Championships, with a clearance of 4.40 meters securing a fourth-place finish. Clute becomes the second Hoosier to earn Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year honors and first since Danielle Carruthers in 2002.
Rivers earns the third Freshman of the Year laurel in program history, after recording a first-place finish at the Big Ten Championships in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:04.14. She was the only freshman to advance to the finals. The Derby, Conn., native also earned silver in the 1,500-meter run after crossing the finish line in 4:21.86. Rivers ranks No. 9 nationally in the 800-meter dash for her time of 2:02.53 set at the Virginia Challenge.
The Big Ten Conference office recognizes students from each team as Sportsmanship Award Honorees. Those chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the students must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. These honorees are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female from each institution at the end of the school year.
The complete list of award winners can be found below.
WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Track Athlete of the Year
Devynne Charlton, Purdue
Field Athlete of the Year
Sydney Clute, Indiana
Freshman of the Year
Danae Rivers, Penn State
Women’s Sportsmanship Honorees
Morgan Schulz, Illinois
Khayla Dawson, Indiana
Andie Shine, Iowa
Alexandra Lucki, Maryland
Gina McNamara, Michigan
Shelby Jackson, Michigan State
Erin Huls, Minnesota
Brittni Wolczyk, Nebraska
Rachel Weber, Ohio State
Maddie Holmberg, Penn State
Devynne Chartlton, Purdue
Katherine Johnston, Rutgers
Banke Oginni, Wisconsin
