Jan. 25, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Junior Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.) made Nittany Lion history on Friday at the Penn State National Invitational at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track, punching her ticket to the NCAA Championships in the pentathlon, and breaking her own school record on the way. Hunter scored an outstanding 4073 points, breaking her own school standard by 14 points, and becoming this year's first automatic qualifier in the event. Hunter's score is also the 10th best in the world this year, according to IAAF.
Hunter started the day with a bang, clocking 7.96 in the 55-meter hurdles, which ties her lifetime best. Hunter would lead through two events, before falling to second behind New Mexico's Sandy Fortner with two events to go. Hunter was just under PR pace after three events, going into the long jump with a total of 2407, just 19 points shy of her three event total during her previous career-best performance (4059) from 2005.
The junior then popped a sensational season-best 19-11(6.07) in the long jump, besting the rest of the field by nearly two feet, and adding an additional 871 points to her total. Hunter finished off with a time of 2:22.15 in the 800-meters, guaranteeing the victory over a tremendous field. Hunter led a total of four NCAA qualifiers in the meet, including UConn's Tamara Highsmith (3822 pts), Boston College's Tiana Riel (3787 pts), and Buffalo's Patrice Coney (3751 pts), all of whom hit the provisional.
"This is one of the premiere meets in the nation thus far this year," said Penn State Director of Track and Field Beth Alford-Sullivan. "It was a great start to the weekend with the sprint-focused Friday night. Tennessee put on a show in the men's and women's sprints, Virginia Tech dominated the hurdles and St. Augustine's added a lot to the competition. The overall great racing, sets us up for an outstanding Saturday."
In the field, senior Lena Bettis (Riverside, Calif.) took runner-up honors in the long jump with a leap of 19-04.75 (5.91), while senior Tyler Hoffman (Lewisburg, Pa.) finished third in the weight with a toss of 63-02 (19.25).
The Lions scored three-four finishes in both the men's and women's 5000-meters, with junior Claire Berryman (Morgantown, W.Va.) and senior Beth Herndon (Fort Wayne, Ind.) running respective PRs of 17:07.82, and 17:09.86. The Lions were just as successful in the men's race with freshman Lucas Zarzeczny (Pittsburgh, Pa.) taking third in 14:38.37, Tyler McCandless (Bath, Pa.), who was running unattached, finishing fourth in 14:41.88, and junior John Mahoney (Richboro, Pa.) taking sixth in 14:47.24 - indoor personal records for all three Lions.
With a day remaining, the Lions are in good standing in the men's heptathlon with Lion alum Ryan Olkowski in first with three events remaining (3275 pts). Junior Chris Morrisey (Ligonier, Pa.) and senior Shawn Colligan (Bradford, Pa.) are in fifth and seventh with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1000-meters left to go.
Action continues tomorrow morning with the men's heptathlon 60-meter hurdles at 9:30 a.m. The running events kick off at 10 a.m., while the field events start at 11 a.m. The elite invitational section of the running events begin at 2:30 p.m.