Aug. 9, 2014
KAMLOOPS, British Columbia, Canada - Javelin thrower Michael Shuey (Johnsonburg, Pa.) claimed gold for the United States men's national team Saturday as he posted a school-record performance of 249 feet, 5 inches at the 2014 North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) U-23 Championships.
Shuey's medal-winning toss came on his final attempt. The reigning Big Ten javelin champ was ranked second in the Penn State record books until today with his old mark of 238-6. That mark was set en route to a first-place finish at the Crimson Tide Invitational back in April.
"This is a dream come true," Shuey said. "I never thought I'd be doing anything like this a couple years ago. Now just being able to represent my country, my family and my school all at the same time and winning my competition is just amazing."
The old school record of 239-9 was set back in 2007 by Allen Pettner.
Brittney Howell (Wyncote, Pa.) wrapped up the heptathlon competition today. The first event of the day in the heptathlon was the long jump. In the long jump, Howell tallied the second-best distance with her mark of 18-7 1/4. With her distance, she scored 750 points.
She went on to score 403 points in the javelin throw with her toss of 85-6.
In the final event of the heptathlon competition, the 800-meter run, Howell ran a time of 2 minutes, 29.14 seconds. Howell scored 704 points in the 800-meter run.
Overall in the heptathlon, Howell placed fifth with a score of 5,219 points.
The U.S. men's distance team was back in action again today with the finals of the 5,000-meter run and the prelims of the 800-meter run.
A day after taking gold in the men's 10,000-meter run, Christopher Bendsten placed second in the 5,000-meter run with his time of 15:17.80.
Both of the U.S. men's 800-meter runners (Christopher Low, 1:52.86 and Drew Windle, 1:54.83) advanced to tomorrow's final.
Under the guidance of interim head coach John Gondak, the U.S. men's distance team has won two gold and two silver medals.
The 2014 NACAC U-23 Championships come to a close tomorrow and Penn State has three student-athletes competing. Darrell Hill (Philadelphia, Pa.), Kiah Seymour (Washington, D.C.) and Steve Waithe (Parkville, Md.) are in action tomorrow for Penn State.
Hill is competing in the shot put (2:45 p.m. EDT), Seymour is running in the 400-meter hurdles (1:45 p.m. EDT) and Waithe is in the triple jump (2:50 p.m. EDT).
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.