May 1, 2008
Meet Notes | Heat Sheets and Live Results
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Two weeks out from the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, the Nittany Lion track and field team will get its first real taste of conference competition this weekend, traveling to Columbus, Ohio, for the Jesse Owens Track Classic at Ohio State University. In-conference rivals Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Indiana, and Ohio State are all scheduled to be in attendance.
Coming off the first Penn Relays win in school history, members of the Nittany Lions women's 4x400-meter relay will look to ride the momentum from the school-record performance into the championship season, led by standout quarter-miler Shana Cox (Westbury, N.Y.). Cox anchored the mile relay to victory last weekend with a speedy 51.7 split and was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week for her efforts. Cox is currently ranked fourth in the NCAA in the open 400-meters, while teammate Dominique Blake (Bronx, N.Y.) stands in seventh. Both seniors will run the 400 this weekend.
Redshirt sophomore Aleesha Barber (Decatur, Ga.) is also poised to move up the national standings after running a school-record 13.27 for the 100-meter hurdles last month. Barber's competition this weekend will include defending NCAA champ Tiffany Ofili of Michigan, as well as Penn State volunteer coach and star hurdler Virginia Johnson. Barber will also take on a stiff field in the 400-meter hurdles, along with teammates Megan Duncan (North Huntingdon, Pa.), and Fawn Dorr (Akron, N.Y.). Duncan ran a PR and team-best 59.53 to take second at the Penn Relays last week, and is currently the third-fastest quarter hurdler among Big Ten competition.
Junior Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.), who was also a member of last weekend's winning relay, will compete in the sprints, hurdles, and jumps, tuning up her skills for her first heptathlon of the season at the Big Ten Championships. Hunter is already an NCAA regional qualifier in the long jump, along with freshman Bianca Fung (North Babylon, N.Y.), whose PR 20-00.50 (6.11) leads the Nittany Lions in 2008. Senior Lena Bettis (Riverside, Calif.) also punched her ticket to the regional championships, posting a season-best leap of 40-7.75 (12.39) in the triple jump at Penn Relays.
After sweeping the eastern triple jump competition at Penn Relays, Nittany Lion jumping trio Clarence Smith (Coatesville, Pa.), Jay Pagana (Danville, Pa.) and Ryan Taylor (Spanish Town, Jamaica) will hope for the same outcome in Columbus with Smith, the Big Ten indoor champ, leading the way with an outdoor PR 50-6.25 (15.40) - the third-best jump in the conference. Pagana and Taylor have been solid all season, both just a matter of inches away from solidifying a spot to make the regional meet.
The Nittany Lion decathletes with also use the weekend to fine turn some events before the Big Ten competition. Senior Chris Morrisey (Ligonier, Pa.), who won the Penn Relays decathlon for the second-straight year last week, is currently the number-one ranked decathlete in the conference after taking silver-medal honors in 2007. Morrisey will focus on the pole vault and javelin this weekend, while teammate Shawn Colligan (Bradford, Pa.), last year's Big Ten bronze medalist, will look to polish up in the hurdles.
The middle distances are shaping up to be the hottest portion of the weekend's competition with star Nittany Lion milers Samuel Borchers (Yellow Springs, Ohio), Tim Johnson (New Cumberland, Pa.), and Brian Fuller (Camp Hill, Pa.) entered in a solid men's 1500-meter field. Sophomore Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio), and Leah Rosenfeld (Ridgefield, Conn.), who both already have NCAA marks in the 1500 on the board, will drop in distance to run the 800-meters this weekend, along with standout half miler Briene Simmons (Decatur, Ga.). The Lions will be just as well represented in the men's 800 with Mark Miller (Shillington, Pa.), the 2008 Big Ten Indoor Champion and current conference leader in the event, and Borchers set to race, as well as Lionel Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.), and Mark Horton (Suffern, N.Y.), who are both within striking distance of the NCAA standard in the event. Miller, Williams, Borchers, and Mike Cadau (Mahanoy City, Pa.) were all members of the Penn State 4x800-meter relay that recorded an impressive fifth-place finish in the Championship of America section at Penn Relays.
Freshman Karlee McQuillen (Johnstown, Pa.), the recently crowned Penn State and American junior record holder, will aim to inch her way up the NCAA list in the javelin list, coming into this weekend competition with the fifth-best throw in the country at 176-0 (53.64). Conference rival Kara Patterson of Purdue, last week's Penn Relays' winner, is also entered in the competition which is looking to be a Big Ten showdown with four of the top six throwers in the conference scheduled to compete. Nittany Lion senior Heidi Nadeau (North Hampton, N.H.), last year's Big Ten runner-up, is already a regional qualifier this year with a season-best 152-7 (46.50) to her credit.
Action at Jesse Owens begins on Friday, May 2, starting with the men's and women's discus throws at 7:30 p.m. Live results can be found at www.deltatiming.com.