Girls track and field: Chelsie Meeks to sign with Purdue
By Steve T. Gorches 648-3141 or sgorches@post-trib.com February 5, 2013 6:24PM
Rensselaer's Chelsie Meeks is the Post-Tribune's 2012 Girls Track Athlete of the Year. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 5, 2013 10:39PM
Chelsie Meeks had four official college visits during her recruiting process.
The last three couldn’t live up to the first one, which wasn’t a far drive from her Rensselaer home. So soon after the fourth visit, she committed to her first visit — Purdue University in West Lafayette — and on Wednesday, which is national signing day, the Rensselaer High senior will sign on the dotted line to become a Boilermaker.
“I liked everything about Purdue,” said Meeks, who was the Post-Tribune girls track athlete of the year last spring. “They have a new coaching staff with lots of energy and a different vibe.”
Among those coaches is assistant Keith McBride, who was impressed with Meeks while watching her during the high school postseason.
And why wouldn’t he be? Despite coming off a sprained MCL late in the regular season, Meeks rolled through the postseason, finishing it off with a runner-up finish in discus at the state finals with a throw of 142 feet, 5 inches — 14 inches from a state title. She had finished fifth in the state as a sophomore.
She followed up her stellar junior season with a pretty good summer of competition, in which she finished first at the AAU track and field national qualifier at Illinois State University, then eighth at the AAU nationals in Houston, Texas, with a throw of 141 feet.
Meeks also placed fourth at the New Balance Nationals last June in Greensboro, N.C., to earn All-America honors.
