April 25, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The men's sprint medley relay provided an exciting heat win, highlighting another successful afternoon for the Nittany Lion track and field teams, Friday at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field. The all-freshmen squad, which finished in 3:24.43, included Andrew Cope (Danville, Pa.), and Sam Hill (Queens, N.Y.) on the 200-meter legs, Lionel Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.) on the 400-meters, and Owen Dawson (Coatesville, Pa.) on the 800-meter anchor.
After Williams brought the Lions into first place after the quarter mile leg, Coppin State quickly charged to the front, gapping Dawson and running away from the field. Dawson, who was a Penn Relays Champion in the high school boys' distance medley relay in 2007, stayed in hot pursuit, and provided an outstanding finishing kick to nip the Coppin State runner at the line. Cope opened at 21.6, handing off to Hill, who provided a 22.0 split on the second 200 leg. Williams ran 47.52 on the quarter, before Dawson closed in an impressive 1:52.47.
"Penn State was well represented in the relays and the field events today," said Director of Track and Field Beth Alford-Sullivan. "We had strong performances from both the women's 4x1500, and men's DMR, and got a great effort from our team of freshman in the sprint medley. We've had a great week so far, but we're definitely hoping to cap it off with big finishes with our relays tomorrow."
The women's 4x1500-meters finished fifth in the Championship of America, running 18:05.56. Team members included Leah Rosenfeld (Ridgefield, Conn.), Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio), who split a team-best 4:22.4, Claire Percival (Sarnia, Ontario), and Meghan Noecker (Reading, Pa.). The men's distance medley also held their own, finishing seventh in the college section in 9:58.02, with outstanding efforts from Tim Johnson (New Cumberland, Pa.), Mike Cadau (Mahanoy City, Pa.), Mark Horton (Suffern, N.Y.), and Brian Fuller (Camp Hill, Pa.).
In the field, senior Lena Bettis (Riverside, Calif.) scored a second-place finish in the college triple jump, posting a leap of 40-6.25 (12.36). Bettis' performance was a season best, as well as an NCAA regional qualifying mark.
Junior Emma Schmelzer (Bloomington, Ill.) managed her second fifth-place finish in as many days with a toss of 160-1 (48.81) in the championship discus section. Sophomore Adam Thielemann (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) also had a good showing in the discus, finishing seventh in the men's college section.
Action in Philadelphia concludes on Saturday afternoon. Remaining Penn State events include the women's 4x400 Championship of America, the men's 4x800-meter relay Championship of American, as well as the men's javelin, and men's hammer in the field.