May 18, 2008
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill.: May 18, 2008 - The Nittany Lion men's track and field team posted a sixth-place finish at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships on Sunday, bolstered by a gold-medal finish from freshman Samuel Borchers (Yellow Springs, Ohio) in the 1500 meters. Mark Miller (Shillington, Pa.), Clarence Smith (Coatesville, Pa.) and Ron Jules (Tom's River, N.J.) each turned in second place finishes for the Nittany Lions.
"The men had a solid day," said Director of Track and Field Beth Alford-Sullivan. "They performed at very high levels in every event on the final day of the championships. Sam Borchers started us off on the track with a sizzling last 400 to take a surprise victory and it really set the tone for the entire program to achieve today. We placed sixth today, but we showed potential to be contenders in the coming years."
After a pedestrian first 1000-meters, Borchers, who won the first Big Ten 1500-meter title in Penn State history, held on to a furious last 400-meters, splitting 51 seconds in his final lap, and sprinting past Ohio State's Jeff See and Wisconsin's Craig Miller in the final steps to finish in 4:03.96.
Smith led a trio of Lions in the triple jump with a wind-aided leap of 52-08 (16.05). Teammate Ryan Taylor (Spanish Town, Jamaica) placed third with a regional-qualifying jump of 51-09.25 (15.78), while Jay Pagana (Selinsgrove, Pa.) rounded out the effort with a jump of 51-04.25 (15.65) for fourth.
Miller posted a runner-up effort in the 800-meters with a performance of 1:50.48. Freshman Lionel Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.) followed up in sixth with a mark of 1:51.19. Jules came up just short of a Big Ten title finish, running a wind-aided 13.83 to Purdue Boilmaker Josh Hembrough's 13.82. The second-place effort was the best of Jules career.
Junior Tanner Evak (State College, Pa.) posted the day's highest finish in the throws with a third-place showing the javelin. Evak's mark of 210-08 (64.22) was good for bronze-medal honors, while senior Shawn Colligan (Bradford, Pa.), yesterday's decathlon runner-up, scored an eighth-place finish with a toss of 185-01 (56.41).
Also adding to the Lion total were Andrew Cope (Danville, Pa.), who ran a wind-aided 10.61 to finish sixth in the 100-meters, and the 4x400-meter relay team that ran a season-best 3:10.34 to finish fourth. The mile relay squad included Mike Cadau (Mahanoy City, Pa.), Jules, Williams, and Miller.
The Nittany Lions scored 77 points, narrowly missing a top five finish with Minnesota notching 84 points. Michigan won the meet with 129 points, with Wisconsin in second at 119. Ohio State took third with 100, and Purdue posted a fourth-place showing with 94.
The Lions continue the championship portion of their season in two weeks with the NCAA East Regional Championships, to be held of May 30-31, 2008, at Florida State University.