Dec. 15, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - By Astrid Diaz, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State track and field is more than prepared to bring in this season's challenges, as they impressed a large cheerful crowd at the annual Blue and White meet at the Ashenfelter III Indoor Track on Saturday afternoon.
The Blue squad defeated the White 138-130 but all of the Nittany Lions displayed the fruits of all their tough offseason labor.
"[Today] got the juices flowing again. It was fun...a lot of the stuff we've been doing all year they got a chance to apply it," said assistant coach Randy Bungard.
Senior Darrell Hill isn't slowing down coming off of an adventurous summer as he swept away the victory for the Blue team against the throwers in the weight throw (58 feet, 11 ¼ inches) and the shot put (64-3.25).
"Today was cool. I felt a little rusty but it was good to get out and have a good meet," said Hill. "It's my first time throwing a weight and I was trying to make it a competitive atmosphere...I was hoping it would bring more out of the younger guys."
The team's runners had a dominant outing on both the men's and women's sides with some young Nittany Lions like freshman Joey Logue, freshman Elizabeth Chikotas, sophomore Malik Moffet, and freshman Greta Lindsley impressing with victories in their respective races.
Junior Ahmenah Richardson had a spectacular day as she high jumped a personal best 5-10.50 and finished strong in the second leg of women's 4x400-meter relay race.
"All year I've been working hard and trying to maintain my weight. I was determined. I'm ready. Jumping this 5-10.5 was a great accomplishment for me. I'm so grateful," said Richardson. "[Jumping 6 feet] is definitely still one of my goals - still, for sure, positive - and then after that, I'm going to keep pushing."
Robert Cardina, Lexi Masterson, and Michael McClellan were intense in the pole vault and jumps portion of the meet showing no signs of slowing down.
While the Blue and White meet didn't bring in any outside competition for Penn State, it provides a time for the team to show off their competitive inner beast, which have been building up all summer and fall, as well as, attracting some of the team's biggest fans and supporters.
"There were some good surprises [but] it's just the beginning right now," said Bungard. "The team is really cohesive and really bonding. We saw that today with people cheering each other in other events. It was really cool - this place is great with fans and spectators."
"To put it in perspective, we had a long fall of training so to be able to come out today and do well, obviously that [means well] for the rest of the season," said Hill. "But, you still have to come out and put in the work for this next month before our next meet."
The team officially begins their 2015 indoor campaign next month on Sat., January 10th at home for the Penn State Indoor Relays.