Penn State Track & Field Captures Three Big Ten Titles
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Penn State track and field took home three individual titles from the Indoor Big Ten Track & Field Championships this past weekend. In the team competition, the men finished seventh overall and the women finished eighth.
Danae Rivers did Danae Rivers-type things by capturing her third straight indoor 800-meter conference title. She set a meet record time of 2:03.45, which beat out the previous record holder by almost a full second. This meet record is about a second slower than her fastest time this season; she finished in 2:02.53 at the Penn State National meet in January.
Rivers had a busy weekend outside of the indoor 800-meter. She also competed on the Penn State 4×400-meter relay and the distance medley relay. Both of Penn State’s relays finished in fifth place.
The second individual champion also came on the women’s side. Freshman Alexis Holmes won the 400-meter run with a Penn State school record. Her time of 52.14 seconds was a personal best, and the time is the fourth fastest in the nation this year and the fastest time of any freshman. Holmes was also a member of the 4×400 team with Rivers.
Kiara Lester, a junior, racked up some points with two fourth-place finishes in the 200-meter and 400-meter races. Freshman Alexa Parks tied for third in the high jump to score 6 points. Carena Nottoli, Megan Fry, and Greer Gumrecht placed fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively, in the pole vault to add to the Nittany Lion point total.
The men’s team had one individual champion in an event that’s very familiar to the Penn State men’s team. Junior Domenic Perretta ran a time of 1:48.24 to capture the 800-meter title. This is the fourth consecutive Big Ten Indoor 800-meter title for the men and their 10th in the last 12 years. Isaiah Harris, a Penn State senior who moved on to professional running, captured the last three titles.
Other point scorers for the Nittany Lions included freshman Justin Ofotan, who placed seventh in the 100-meter race and sixth in the 200-meter race. Gray Ross finished third in the 600-meters and the distance medley team of Owen Wing, Kier Miner, Billy McDevitt, and Colin Abert placed third.
In the field events, senior Bryce Williams finished fifth in the long jump with a mark of 7.19 meters and fourth in the triple jump with 15.42 meters. Senior Morgan Shigo finished second in the weight throw, and teammate David Lucas placed fourth in the same competition.
The Nittany Lions will now await the official announcement of student-athletes who will head to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held March 8 and 9 in Birmingham, Alabama.
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