The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT was only their season opener, but head coach Norbert Elliott said it was good to see his Boilermakers triple/long jumper Tamar Greene and former sprinter Keanu Pennerman get in some early action as Purdue University kicked off its 2022 indoor track and field season.

On Saturday at the Gene Edmonds Memorial Invitational at Purdue University’s Lambert Fieldhouse in West Lafayette, Indiana, Greene opted to contest the long jump where he placed seventh with a leap of 7.15 metres or 23-feet, 5 1/-inches.

The winning leap was 7.22m (23-8 ½) by Safin Wills, a junior at Purdue.

The triple jump was won by Welre Olivier, a sophomore at Northern Colorado with 15.59m (51-1 ¾). Although he has graduated and is back home in the Bahamas, Pennerman made the trek to his alma mater where he contested the men’s 60m, coming in fourth in the final in 6.94 seconds after he posted the same position in the preliminaries as he advanced in a time of 6.95.

Antonio Mitchell II, a senior competing unattached for Purdue, won the race in 6.81.

Pennerman also ran the second leg of the unattached men’s 4 x 400m relay team of Malcolm Dotson, Noah McBride and Justin Dwyer, which placed second in 3:23.02. Purdue won the race in 3:22.74.

Looking at the performances of both Greene and Pennerman, Elliott said the low-key meet was a good test to see where they are as they prepare for the upcoming season and the possibility of qualifying for Team Bahamas at the World Championships in July in Eugene, Oregon.

“This is early season and this is just an opportunity for them to gauge where they are,” Elliott said.

“You can’t really perform at your peak in the first meet of the season, so I’m really pleased with what I saw from both of them.”

Greene, one of the country’s top triple jumpers, decided to get in a few leaps in the long jump as he worked out the knits and got ready for his season year at Purdue.

“Tamar has never really been a long jumper, so we were just working on some things,” Elliott said.

“We just wanted to see where he was at this point of the season so when he gets ready to peak, we know what he needs to do to compete at that point.”

With Pennerman, Elliott said he was pleased to see him return to his “old stomping ground” and from what he saw, he was impressed. “He looks good. He looked good for his first meet. He’s trying to make the World Championship team, like Tamar, so he too wanted to gauge to see where he’s at,” Elliott said.

“He looked good for his first meet. “If he can stay healthy, he should do very well. His problem is he’s always been prone to injuries. But if he can stay healthy, he will do very well.”

Last year, top male sprinter Samson Colebrooke graduated from Purdue and is now training in Atlanta, Georgia in preparation for this season. Like he did in qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, Elliott said he’s looking forward to Colebrooke qualifying for the World Championships as well.

Aside from Greene, the only other Bahamian left on Purdue’s roster is Vinajah Adderley, who has taken the year off and is back home. But Elliott said he expects the jumper to be back next season to continue her career as a Boilermaker.

Purdue will travel to Chicago, Illinois this weekend to compete in the Wisconsin Midwest Invitational on Saturday where Greene is expected to contest the triple jump.