April 26, 2013
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Capturing the program's first distance medley title since 1959, freshman Brannon Kidder (Lancaster, Ohio), junior Brandon Bennett-Green (Philadelphia, Pa.), senior Casimir Loxsom (New Haven, Conn.), and sophomore Robby Creese(Mount Airy, Md.) brought home a DMR "Championship of America" victory, Friday at the historic Penn Relays Carnival at Franklin Field. The Nittany Lions have been on an impressive hot streak at the relays over the past several seasons, as the DMR is the program's fourth relay victory at Penn in the last three years.
"It's an honor to be sitting up here with these guys and with my Assistant Coach, John Gondak, we've had our eyes set on this all year long, and these guys we're just tremendous out there in a great competition," said Director and Head Coach of Nittany Lion Track and Field Beth Alford-Sullivanat the post-race press conference. "I couldn't be more proud of these guys by really starting off this weekend in championship fashion."
The Nittany Lions' performance - 9:24.68 - is historic in more ways than one, as the foursome broke the former Penn State benchmark of 9:30.10 - set by Larry Mangan, Paul Lankford, Mike Cook, and Alan Scharsu in 1980. Penn State's sizzling school-record effort also moves the Nittany Lions to the sixth-fastest program in collegiate history, following only Arkansas (9:20.10), Georgetown (9:20.96), Villanova (9:21.03), Mt. St. Mary's (9:21.44), and Michigan (9:22.57). In fact, the Nittany Lions' winning time was the fastest at Penn since the Wolverines took the Championship of America in 2005 with the school's all-time best 9:22.57.
Kidder bided his time in a tightly bunched pack before breaking away with the leaders with just over 400-meters remaining on the 1200-meter opener. The freshman would hold on to third place at the first exchange - clocking 2:53.5 on the opening split - handing off the Bennett-Green on the 400 carry. Bennett-Green - in front of a hometown crowd - then mounted one of the more impressive performances of the entire race, splitting a sizzling 45.6 - the second-fastest readout of the event - bringing the stick through in second place - just behind Oregon.
Loxsom was then in control on the 800-meter leg, riding the shoulder of NCAA Indoor Champion Elijah Greer of Oregon, and clocking 1:46.7 over two laps to pass the torch to Creese in a neck-and-neck battle with the Ducks going into to 1600 meter carry. Creese, who anchored the Nittany Lions' winning 4x800-meter relay a year ago, was once again "Mr. Reliable" on the anchor leg, taking over the lead at 800 - blowing away the field with a 3:58.9 split. Creese left no doubt over the final 400 meters, dropping a sub-55 split on his final lap, to break the tape in 9:24.68.
Junior Evonne Britton(El Paso, Texas) was the top performer on the track, individually, posting a season-best 13.36 in the 100-meter hurdles. Britton's mark, which was tied for the fastest time of the day, currently ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten. The junior will compete again in Saturday's hurdle final.
Sophomore Darrell Hill (Philadelphia, Pa.) was the Nittany Lions' top finisher in the field events, placing third in the men's "championship" shot put. Hill recorded a put of 61-5 (18.72) to attain bronze-medal status in against outstanding competition. Also earning a top 10 finish in the throws was junior Will Barr (Urbana, Ohio), who took seventh in the men's "championship" discus, thanks to a season-best toss of 178-10 (54.52).
Senior Erika Morgan (Chesapeake, Va.) impressed on the afternoon, clearing a lifetime-best 5-10.75 (1.80) to take second in the women's "championship" high jump. Morgan's performance is also the fourth-highest attempt in school history, and the third best in the Big Ten this season. Junior Marlene Ricketts(Westbury, N.Y.) also fared well in the jumps, finishing seventh in the championship triple jump at 40-8.25 (12.40).
The Nittany Lions would also come away with several solid finishes in the relays, led by a third-place effort by the men's sprint medley relay squad of Matt Gilmore (Philadelphia, Pa.), Emunael Mpanduki (Harare, Zimbabwe), Bennett-Green, and Ricky West(Toronto, Ontario). The foursome clocked 3:18.52 in the bronze-medal effort.
Elsewhere, the Nittany Lions earned a third-place standing in the women's "ECAC" 4x100-meter final, thanks to the efforts of Britton, Mahagony Jones (Cleveland, Ohio), Kiah Seymour (Washington, D.C.) and Dynasty McGee (Flint, Mich.). Jones, Seymour and McGee would come back to help the Nittany Lions to a sixth-place showing in the women's SMR - along with Colleen Shannon(Andover, Mass.). The team finished in 3:53.21.
The final day of action at the Penn Relays gets underway on Saturday morning. For more on Nittany Lion Track and Field, log on to www.GoPSUsports.com.