Feb. 2, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
By Astrid Diaz, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It was a weekend for the books at the Penn State National meet - literally.
On both the track and the field, the Nittany Lions tallied dozens of personal records, a school record, and displayed their best performances of the season.
"The energy our team had to today and the excitement was unlike anything I've experienced in my nine years here. It was a phenomenal weekend. There was so much energy in this building and excitement with our program," said head coach John Gondak.
Day one of the two-day meet got the ball rolling.
All four women shot putters tallied personal records. Rachel Fatherly set a personal record in the weight throw at 67-5.25 ft. She is now top-15 in the nation and top three at Penn State.
The distance medley relay made up of Za'Von Watkins, Brannon Kidder, Robby Creese, and Robert Rhodes was as thrilling as expected. The crowd roared louder every lap and the men finished the relay in 9:28.36, the second best time in the country.
The team's drive did not let down going into day two.
Darrell Hill was outstanding. He took home first place in the shot put with a school record-breaking 67-3 throw.
"Today was...good, today was good. I wanted to go after it. Had some pretty good throws," said Hill. "It's always exciting to get a personal and school record."
The field was thrilling this weekend as Brian Leap and Dannielle Gibson won the men's (52-3.75) and women's (40-7.75) triple jump, respectively.
On the track, Brannon Kidder and the women of the 4x400-meter relay stole the show.
In the 800-meter run, Kidder the final lap in third place and then kicked up the intensity to win it all with a time of 1:47.86, the third best time in the country.
"For this race I just wanted to go into it and have fun," said Kidder. "Instead of trying to go for it all at the beginning I just kind of hung back and it all worked out."
Kiah Seymour, Dynasty McGee, Tichina Rhodes, and Megan Osborne dominated the 4x400-meter relay with a spectacular 3:40.43 time, almost five seconds faster than the second place team.
"[Winning] was a great feelings especially hearing our teammates cheering for us on the backstretch," said Seymour. "I felt good, it felt good and I wanted to kick it in so our team could have a good time."
It was a fantastic weekend at the Penn State National meet, as expected, yet, there is so much more to come.
"I implore the team to carry this energy on and as we move into February," said Gondak. "I almost get sad when this meet is over with because it's my favorite meet of the year and we had some great things happen today. It was a lot of fun."
Next weekend the Nittany Lions will host the Sykes and Sabock Challenge, the first scored meet of the year, beginning on Friday and continuing through Saturday.