May 14, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.: May 14, 2010 - Senior Tyler McCandless (Bath, Pa.) scored a sixth-place finish in the 10,000-meters, while sophomore Anya Uzoh (Laurel, Md.) stands in third place after five events in men's decathlon, Friday at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships at Indiana University. More action is in store for the Nittany Lions throughout the weekend, with the preliminary rounds of most of the track events, and several field event finals on the schedule for Saturday.
McCandless clocked a personal-best 29:15.73 - shaving nearly seven seconds off of his previous best 29:22.35 from earlier this season. McCandless held his own in an outstanding field, in which the top eight athletes finished in under 29:30. After a fast start to the 25-lap race, the senior spent the entire race in the front pack, running a gritty last 800-meters to sprint down the homestretch to a sixth overall - his third-career conference scoring performance in the event. Wisconsin's Muhammed Ahmed won the race in 29:03.71. Redshirt freshman Chris Cipro (Harmony, Pa.) placed 18th overall in his first-career appearance in the event, finishing in 30:59.61.
"The men's 10K was a phenomenal race with outstanding competition and perfect racing conditions," said Director and Head Coach of Track and Field Beth Alford-Sullivan. "Tyler ran an excellent tactical race, but a gutsy and emotionally thrilling effort. He's been a great team leader, and a three-year scorer in the event and I couldn't be more proud of his PR tonight. It was a good day overall for the men, and we'll look forward to Uzoh to finishing up well in the decathlon tomorrow."
Uzoh had an outstanding start to the 10-event decathlon, beginning the day with a run of 11.12 in the 100-meters - worth 834 points and just off his lifetime best. Uzoh continued to impress in the long jump, posting a PR leap of 23-01.25 (7.04), enough for another 823 points. Uzoh's 100 and long jump performances were both the second-best efforts among decathlon competitors on the day. Uzoh recorded another personal best in the shot put with an effort of 37-08.50 (11.49), before clearing 6-04.75 (1.95) in the high jump - also a new PR. The sophomore ended the day with the best performance in the field at 400-meters, going 49.53. With five events in the books, Uzoh stands third overall with 3826 - less than 70 points from second, and just over 80 points from day-one leader R.J. McGinnis of Minnesota.
In the field, senior Brad Lawrence (Voorhees, N.J.) cleared 15-9 (4.80) to tie for 10th in the pole vault, while classmate Cory Eck (State College, Pa.) turned in a 12th-place finish in the hammer throw with a toss of 185-10 (56.64).
Sophomore Kara Millhouse (Boiling Springs, Pa.) recorded the highest day-one finish on the women's side, placing 13th overall in the 10,000-meters. Millhouse clocked 35:53.41 in her first-career attempt at the distance. Teammate Jessica Babcock (Irvine, Calif.) was 16th in the event with a finishing time of 36:21.62.
"Slow first day for the women," continued Sullivan. "But the results went as predicted, and we look to have a lot in tomorrow's preliminaries. I'm confident that they will put themselves in position to contend for a championship on Saturday."
Action continues on Saturday morning, beginning with the decathlon 110-meter hurdles at 9:30 a.m. The first event on the track is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. with the women's 4x100-meter relay.