March 1, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.: March 1, 2009 - Led by championship wins by Clarence Smith (Coatesville, Pa.) in the triple jump and Ryan Foster (Tasmania, Australia) in the 800-meters, the Nittany Lion men's track and field team posted a third-place finish - the highest in program history - at the Big Ten Indoor Championships at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. Along with Smith's and Foster's gold-medal performance, the Nittany Lions recorded a slew of scoring finishes, including runner-up efforts from Owen Dawson (Coatesville, Pa.) in the 800, and Lionel Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.) in the 600-meters, and third-place showings from Ryan Fritz (Parkesburg, Pa.) in the high jump, and Mike Cadau (Mahanoy City, Pa.) in the 400-meters.
Thanks to an outstanding day two, the Nittany Lions vaulted to the top three in the team standings, finishing behind Minnesota with 135 points, and Michigan with 93. Penn State totaled 78 to edge Ohio State (77.50) for third.
| Mike Cadau |
Smith posted his second-straight Big Ten triple jump title, going 51-7.75 (15.74) on his third attempt, which held for top honors by more than six inches. The scoring finish was the second of the weekend for Smith, who finished eighth in the long jump on Friday. Smith was joined by teammates Jay Pagana (Selinsgrove, Pa.), and Ryan Taylor (Spanish Town, Jamaica), who placed fourth and eighth, respectively.
The Lions excelled in the middle distances all afternoon, as Foster mounted a charge to the front of the pack with three laps remaining in the 800 final and never looked back, hanging on for the 1:50.24 win. Foster's finishing time was just off his personal best and NCAA provisional qualifying 1:50.19 from Saturday's prelims. Dawson provided an exciting surge in the final stages of the race, passing several competitors down the home stretch to finish in 1:50.83 and cap the Penn State one-two finish. Williams just missed a Big Ten win, finishing second to Illinois's Gary Williams by a slim one thousandth of a second. Williams clocked a personal-best 1:17.65 in the race, which ranks second in the Penn State indoor record books.
The Nittany Lions also recorded a pair of scoring performances in the mile run, led by Samuel Borchers (Yellow Springs, Ohio), who finished fifth in the mile with a season-best 4:04.44. Teammate Tim Johnson (New Cumberland, Pa.) also added a top eight effort in the event, going 4:06.29 for seventh. Lion duo Kyle Dawson (Coatesville, Pa.) and Dennis Pollow (Ransomville, Pa.) would also get in on the scoring, posting seventh and eighth place finishes in the 5,000-meters, running 14:17.00, and 14:18.05, respectively. Freshman Vince McNally (Smoketown, Pa.) would also record an outstanding finish, placing sixth in the 3,000-meters in 8:09.13 on Saturday.
In the field, Fritz topped out at 7-0.50 (2.12) to take bronze medal honors in the high jump. Freshman Anya Uzoh (Laurel, Md.) had a stellar two days of competition, placing sixth in the heptathlon with a personal-best score of 4996, edging out the seventh place competitor by just three points. Uzoh sealed his sixth-place standing in the 1000-meters, sprinting down the home stretch to nose a pack of competitors.
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Cadau would also make a trip to the medal stand, clocking a personal-best 47.28 - just off the NCAA provisional standard. Cadau also anchored the fifth-place 4x400-meter relay, which finished in a season-best 3:12.90 with team members Kevin Fuller (Camp Hill, Pa.), Williams, and Mike Malizia (Flourtown, Pa.).
Following the conference meet, the Lions will have one last chance to claim a spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships next weekend, as they are scheduled for travel to Last Chance competitions at Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.