May 12, 2013
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Senior Casimir Loxsom (New Haven, Conn.) and sophomore Robby Creese (Mount Airy, Md.) earned silver medal honors, leading a total of five Nittany Lions to score podium finishes, Sunday at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. A trio of Nittany Lions posted bronze-medal efforts, including sophomore Brian Leap (Bellwood, Pa.), sophomore Darrell Hill (Philadelphia, Pa.) in the shot put, and freshman Michael Shuey(Johnsonburg, Pa.) in the javelin.
The Nittany Lions totaled 59 points on the weekend, good for eighth place in the team standings.
"The men's team had a difficult weekend," said Director and Head Coach of Track and Field/Cross Country Beth Alford-Sullivan. "It was somewhat unexpected since we've been on a such a roll this indoor and outdoor season. It was a frustrating environment from the start, and we never seemed to catch the momentum it takes to succeed within a conference as competitive as the Big Ten. We had some outstanding performances from some of our team leaders, but we are ready to put this weekend behind us and focus on the next step, which is the NCAA preliminaries and finals. I'm confident that our 11th ranked men's team will rebound of this weekend and prepare well for the national championships."
Loxsom turned in his four-straight podium performance in the outdoor conference 800, finishing second in 1:48.67. Loxsom came within an eyelash of winning a Big Ten title, coming up just shy of Minnesota's Harun Abda, who finished in 1:48.64. Senior Ricky West(Toronto, Ontario) added another scoring finish for the Nittany Lions in the event, taking sixth place overall in 1:51.31.
Creese improved upon his third-place finish from a year ago, kicking to a second-place standing with a finishing time of 3:45.39. Freshman Brannon Kidder(Lancaster, Ohio) - the Big Ten Freshman of the Year indoors - would nab the eighth and final scoring spot in the event, finishing 3:51.50 in his first-career outdoor conference appearance.
Coming off a fifth-place finish in the long jump on Saturday, Leap kept the momentum going, posting a season-best 50-5.25 (15.37) to finish third in the triple jump. The sophomore, who also placed third in the conference triple jump indoors, now ranks 10th in the all-time Nittany Lion standings in the event.
Shuey turned in a lifetime best to earn his first-career Big Ten medal, posting an effort of 227-11 (69.47). The freshman also improves his standing in the Penn State archives, moving to No. 7 all-time in the event.
Hill also picked up his first-career piece of conference hardware, turning in a toss of 61-9.75 (18.84) to finish third in the shot put.
The Nittany Lions got a pair of scoring finishes in the distances, with redshirt-sophomore Matt Fischer (Kennett Square, Pa.), and senior Sam Masters(Columbia, Mo.) placing fifth and eighth, respectively in the 5,000 meters. Fischer earned a top five slot, thanks to a finishing time of 14:12.16, while Masters rounded out the scoring in the event, going 14:22.93.
Brothers Brandon Bennett-Green (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Bernard Bennett-Green (Philadelphia, Pa.) highlighted the Nittany Lion results in the sprints, with Brandon Bennett-Green finishing fourth in the 400 in 46.99. Bernard Bennett-Greenalso ran well, taking eighth with a finishing time of 47.24.
Following a weekend off, the Nittany Lions will be back in action at the NCAA Eastern Preliminary Round, scheduled for May 22-25 at North Carolina A&T, in Greensboro, N.C.