| Sophomore Ryan Fritz captured his first career Big Ten title on Sunday, clearing a career-best 7-3 in the high jump. |
- Big Ten Day 1 Results
- Big Ten Day 2 Results
- Heptathlon Results
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.: February 25, 2007 ?C Sophomore Ryan Fritz (Parkesburg, Pa.) cleared a personal-best 7-3 (2.21) to win the high jump at Sunday??s Big Ten Track and Field Championships at Indiana University. A trio of Lions earned bronze medals on the final day of competition, including Clarence Smith (Coatesville, Pa.) in the triple jump, Ron Jules (Tom??s River, N.J.) in the 60-meter hurdles, and Mark Miller (Shillington, Pa.) in the 800-meters.
Fritz cruised to victory, clearing every height on the first attempt to become Penn State??s first indoor conference championship since Neal McNutt won the 35-pound weight in 1998. The sophomore, who finished second at the meet last year, also proved also inched closer to the Big Ten record, which currently stands at 7-4.50 (2.25m).
Smith notched a personal-best by nearly ten inches in the triple jump, leaping to a provisional-qualifying 50-10.25 (15.51m). Smith finished within inches of a Big Ten title, with Michigan??s Michael Whitehead posting a leap of 51-4.50 (15.66m) for the win. Teammate Jay Pagana (Danville, Pa.) slipped into the final scoring spot in the event with a jump of 49-5.75 (15.08m).
Jules captured third for the second-consecutive year, clocking a season-best 7.95. Jules made a big improvement on his preliminary standing, as the junior was just the seventh-fastest entrant following the semi-finals. Miller also managed a third-place finish for the second year in-a-row, going 1:51.24 in the half mile.
Senior duo Steve Meyers (Wayne, Pa.), and Dane Miller (Reading, Pa.) both popped personal-bests in the shot put to turn in fifth and sixth place finishes respectively. Meyers threw 58-1.75 (17.72m) for fifth, while Miller posted 58-0.25 (17.68m) for sixth, both just missing the provisional qualifying mark of 58-3 (17.75m).
Multi-eventers Chris Morrisey (Ligonier, Pa.) and Shawn Colligan (Bradford, Pa.) also took fifth and sixth. Morrisey scored 5131 for fifth in the heptathlon, while Colligan managed a personal-best 5115 for sixth.
Freshman Mike Cadau (Mahanoy City, Pa.) recorded a scoring finish in his first-ever Big Ten Championship appearance, going 1:19.08 in the 600-meters, good for eighth place.
The Nittany Lions racked up a total of 46 points to finish eighth place, just half a point behind Iowa in seventh. Wisconsin cruised to victory with 120, with Minnesota (93) and Michigan (89) rounding out the top three.