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Nittany Lions Close Out Florida Relays Strong

April 4, 2015

Final Results

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The 2015 Florida Relays came to a close Saturday with only field and relay events. Rachel Fatherly (Williamsport, Pa.) and the women's 4x200-meter relay posted top-10 Penn State school record performances Saturday.

"The Florida Relays is meet that treated us very well this year, we are thankful to the University of Florida and their event staff for putting on a wonderful competition," head coach/director of Penn State track & field and cross country John Gondak said.

Following a second-place finish in the hammer throw yesterday, Fatherly recorded an outdoor personal-best mark of 53-2.75 en route to a second-place finish in the invite section of the women's shot put. Heading into the weekend, Fatherly's mark moves her into the top-10 in the nation in the women's shot put. She also remains in fourth all-time in the Penn State record books.

"Rachel Fatherly threw an outdoor PR in the shot put and our women's 4x200-meter relay ran a Penn State top-10 time and they competed very well against some of the best sprint schools in the NCAA," Gondak said.

The women's 4x200-meter relay of Megan Osborne (Chillicothe, Ohio), Deja Davis (Shelby Charter Township, Mich.), Quenee Dale (Ypsilanti, Mich.) and Dynasty McGee (Flint, Mich.) clocked in for the seventh-fastest time in school history. The quartet finished ninth with their time of 1:36.30.

Also competing for the Penn State women in the shot put was Alyssa Robinson (Saint Clairsville, Ohio). Robinson posted a third-place finish in the open section of the women's shot put with her toss of 48-2.50.

In the invite section of the men's shot put, Darrell Hill (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished third with his toss of 64-11.50. The invite section of the men's shot put featured four of the top five finishers from the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.

The women's high jump featured a pair of top-10 finishes from the Nittany Lions. Ahmenah Richardson (Philadelphia, Pa.) tied for second with her height of 5-8 and Megan McCloskey (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) cleared a height of 5-6 to tie for ninth.

The Nittany Lions tallied a pair of top-five finishes in the 4x800-meter relays. The men's quartet of Ryan Brennan (Chester, N.Y.), Brannon Kidder (Lancaster, Ohio), Robert Rhodes (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Robby Creese (Mount Airy, Md.) took to the track for the Nittany Lions.

In his first race since February, Brennan put the Nittany Lions in a good position from the start. Kidder, on the second leg, took charge and moved Penn State into first. Rhodes continued the trend with Creese to anchor. At the finish line, Creese was edged out by Brandon Lasater of Georgia Tech for the top spot. Georgia Tech won the race with a time of 7:21.87, followed by Penn State in 7:22.22.

"We had some really great things happen today, the men's 4x800-meter relay was a fantastic race between us and Georgia Tech that came down to the wire," Gondak said. "They edged us out, but it was good to see our guys doubling back off their fantastic races from last night."

The women's 4x800-meter relay of Elizabeth Chikotas (Hellertown, Pa.), Tori Gerlach (Perkasie, Pa.), Greta Lindsley (Lancaster, Pa.) and Victoria Crawford (State College, Pa.) clocked in for a time of 8:53.41 to finish fourth.

The Nittany Lions are slated to compete at the Bucknell Classic in Lewisburg, Pa., next weekend April 11-12.

For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.