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Kara Winger

5 Purdue Athletes Set to Compete in Olympic Track and Field Events

Five athletes from the Purdue track and field program are competing in the Tokyo Olympics starting Friday. Three of them are making their Olympic debuts this year.
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Purdue athletics sent a department-record 10 Olympians to Tokyo this year, including five athletes competing in track and field. The Olympic track and field events begin Friday and will continue through Sunday, Aug. 8. 

Results and broadcasting can be found on NBC and NBCOlympics.com. Here's a look at all the Boilermakers competing. 

Camille Buscomb, New Zealand — 5,000-Meters and 10,000-Meters

Camille Buscomb will represent New Zealand in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races. The 5,000-meter heats are on Friday, July 30, at 6 a.m. ET, and the final is scheduled for Monday, August 2, at 8:40 a.m. The 10,000-meter final is set for Saturday, August 7, at 6:45 a.m.

Buscomb, who was a Boilermaker between 2009 and 2011, is competing at her first Olympic Games. She ranks No. 10 in program history in the indoor mile with a time of 4:47.75 set in 2011. 

Buscomb is a 2017 World Championships qualifier and won silver at the 2015 World University Games. She also ran for New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the 2007 World Youth Championships and the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games.

Devynne Charlton, The Bahamas — 100-Meter Hurdles

Devynne Charlton is set to compete in the 100-meter hurdles for The Bahamas starting Friday. The event's semifinals are set for Sunday at 6:45 a.m. ET, with the final scheduled for on Sunday at 10:50 p.m.

Charlton is the Purdue record-holder in both the 100 hurdles (12.70) and the 100-meter dash (11.22). She was a nine-time All-American as a Boilermaker between 2014 and 2018.

Charlton is making her Olympic debut in Tokyo. Along with her Purdue records, she also holds the sixth-fastest time in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.61 seconds and was a member of seven of the nine-fastest 4x100 relay teams in program history. 

She was the NCAA runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles in 2018 and in the 60-meter hurdles in 2017. She is an 11-time Big Ten champion and was named the Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year three times. With The Bahamas, Charlton is a two-time World Championships qualifier and competed twice at the Pan American Games.

Samson Colebrooke, The Bahamas — 100-Meters

Samson Colebrooke qualified in the 100-meter dash for The Bahamas. The preliminary round is scheduled for Friday at 10:35 p.m. ET, with the heats on Saturday at 6:45 a.m. The semifinals and final are scheduled for Sunday, with the semifinal at 6:15 a.m. and the final at 8:50 a.m.

A 2021 Purdue graduate, Colebrooke was a two-time Honorable Mention All-American outdoors in 2021, in the 200-meter and 4x100 relay. He was a six-time All-America honoree as a Boilermaker and owns the second-fastest 200-meter (20.46) and third-fastest 100-meter (10.18) times in program history. 

Colebrooke also contributed to three of the four-fastest 4x100 marks and three of the six-fastest 4x400 times, highlighted by the 4x100 record of 38.75. The five-time Big Ten medalist and two-time champion in the 4x100 qualified for his first Olympic Games.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Nigeria — Shot Put

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi will compete in the shot put for Nigeria. The qualifying round is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:15 a.m. ET, while the final is set for Wednesday at 10:05 p.m.

Enekwechi is a volunteer assistant coach with the Boilermakers. He is a 12-time All-American and five-time NCAA medalist. He is competing at his first Olympics after representing Nigeria at four World Championships. 

Enekwechi owns the school record in the shot put (20.37 meters) and hammer throw (72.77 meters) outdoors and shot put (19.95 meters) and weight throw (24.39 meters) indoors. He competed at Purdue from 2013 to 2016, and his NCAA medals include two silvers in 2016, in the shot put outdoors and in the weight throw indoors.

He won 12 Big Ten medals, including four golds, and was a three-time Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year.

Kara (Patterson) Winger, United States — Javelin

Kara Winger is the only Purdue track and field athlete that is representing the United States, and she will compete in the qualifying round of the javelin throw on Monday at 8:20 p.m. ET. The final is scheduled for Friday at 7:50 a.m.

Winger owns the Purdue (61.56 meters in 2008) and had the American (66.67 meters in 2010) records in the javelin. She is a 2009 Purdue graduate and is competing at her fourth Olympic Games. Winger is an eight-time USATF national champion and has competed at five IAAF World Championships. 

At the NCAA Championships, Winger won silver in the javelin in 2009 and was fifth in 2008, and she is a two-time Big Ten Outdoor Athlete of the Year. She won Big Ten titles in the javelin in 2005, 2008 and 2009.

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