April 19, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa.: April 19, 2008 - Turning in a total of 25 event victories, the Nittany Lion track and field teams cleanly swept the team titles at the Bucknell Team Challenge, Saturday at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium. The Nittany Lions got stand out performances across the board, including NCAA regional improvements from Blake Eaton (Allegeny, N.Y.) in the shot put, Bianca Fung (North Babylon, N.Y.) and Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.) in the long jump, and a new regional performance from Emma Schmelzer (Bloomington, Ill.) in the discus.
"I thought we had a excellent day with the great weather conditions and great opportunity to compete so close to home," said Director of Track and Field Beth Alford-Sullivan. "We did a great job representing ourselves and Penn State and looked good across the board, from the jumps to the sprints, to the distances, to the throws. The competition definitely gave us a chance to turn up for Penn Relays next weekend."
Freshman Blake Eaton (Allegeny, N.Y.) had an outstanding afternoon, bettering the shot put field by nearly five feet with a career-best and regional-qualifying 56-9.50 (17.31). His toss is also the 10th-best throw in Nittany Lion history. Eaton would go on to finish second in the discus with a mark of 152-4 (46.44) to take second in the discus. Teammate Adam Thielemann (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) won the event with a performance of 154-9 (47.16), while sophomore Cory Eck (State College, Pa.) finished off the clean sweep for the Lions, taking third with a toss of 152-2 (46.38).
Senior Tyler Hoffman (Lewisburg, Pa.) was also a winner in the throws, taking the hammer with a mark of 192-6 (58.67) while junior Emma Schmelzer (Bloomington, Ill.) came home with a win in the women's discus, tossing a regional-qualifying and season-best 163-3 (49.75).
The Lions were equally as dominant in the horizontal jumps, capturing victories the men's and women's long and triple jumps. Fung, just a freshman, soared to a career-best 20-0.50 (6.11) to win the women's long jump - an improvement on her NCAA regional performance from last weekend. Hunter posted a leap of 19-9.75 (6.04) for second, tacking another inch onto her season best. Senior Christina Sgriccia (Clymer, Pa.) recorded a win in the triple jump with a career-best leap of 38-5.50 (11.72).
The Nittany Lion men also cleaned up in the jumps with Ryan Taylor (Spanish Town, Jamaica) taking the long jump with a mark of 23-5.50 (7.15), and Jay Pagana (Selinsgrove, Pa.) winning the triple jump at 48-9.50 (14.87). Taylor followed in second place. Junior John Vellenoweth (Wheeling, W.Va.) also picked up a win on the afternoon, clearing a season-best 15-9 (4.80) to win the pole vault.
The Lions also provided a tremendous presence on the track, recording victories in 16 of the 19 events with Penn State entrants, including a pair of wins from Aleesha Barber (Decatur, Ga.), who won the 100- and 400-meter hurdles. Other winners in the running events were freshmen Andrew Cope (Danville, Pa.) and Caitlin Defusco (Schwenksville, Pa.) in the 100-meters, Hunter and Sam Hill (Queens, N.Y.) in the 200-meters, Fawn Dorr (Akron, N.Y.) in the 400-meters, Briene Simmons (Decatur, Ga.) and Mike Cadau (Mahanoy City, Pa.) in the 800-meters, Meghan Noecker (Reading, Pa.) and Sam Borchers (Yellow Springs, Ohio) in the 1500-meters, John Mahoney (Richboro, Pa.) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Ron Jules (Tom's River, N.J.) in the 110-meter hurdles.
The Penn State contingent would also take three relays on the afternoon, with the team of Barber, Dominique Blake (Bronx, N.Y.), DeFusco, and Shavon GReaves (Lakewood, N.J.) winning the 4x100-meters in a season-best 46.31. The Lions would close out the outstanding afternoon with back-to-back victories in the 4x400-meter relay, as the team of Barber, Greaves, Simmons, and Blake managed a 3:41.98 winner and regional qualifier, and the men won with Lionel Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.), Jules, Cadau, and Adam Stanowick (Solon, Ohio) running 3:15.68.
The No. 10 Nittany Lion women totaled 244 points on the day, bettering host Bucknell in second, and St. Francis (Pa.) in third, while the men posted 237.50 points for the win, also besting Bucknell in second, and St. Francis (Pa.) in third.
The Nittany Lions will be back in action next week at the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Competition begins with the multi-events starting on Tuesday, April 22.