May 17, 2015
Big Ten Final Results
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Behind three individual Big Ten champions, the Penn State men's track & field team scored 67 points en route to a fifth-place finish at the 2015 Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Sunday, Darrell Hill (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Michael Shuey (Johnsonburg, Pa.) defended their titles from a season ago, while Brannon Kidder (Lancaster, Ohio) won his first outdoor Big Ten title.
"Penn State had a fantastic weekend in regards to the program that we are right now," head coach and director of Penn State cross country and track & field John Gondak said. "We had a team meeting following the meet and our student-athletes talked about this being the first time they experienced us fighting and battling for every point as the program."
The day began with Hill competing in the men's shot put. Hill, a senior, opened up with a toss of 65 feet, 7.75 inches to take the early lead in heat two. His mark though would not hold as the top mark as Ohio State's JC Murasky responded on his second attempt with a toss of 66-1.75 to take the lead from Hill.
Heading into the finals with the No. 2 mark, Hill recorded a throw of 66-3.25 on his fourth attempt to take the lead back. His mark went onto hold as Murasky was unable to answer back. With Hill's title Sunday, he becomes the second Nittany Lion to defend his shot put title (Blake Eaton, 2010-11).
"It was a tough competition, the guys made me work for it, but it was awesome defending my Big Ten title," Hill said. "With it being my senior year I wanted to do my best and my team was counting on me for ten points."
The Nittany Lions were looking to continue the momentum from Hill's title into the finals of the men's 1,500-meter run. With 200-meters left in the race, top-seed Robby Creese (Mount Airy, Md.) was tripped up causing him to fall and put him out of contention for the title. He finished 12th in the race with his time of 4 minutes, 5.68 seconds.
Steve Waithe (Parkville, Md.) was also in the hunt to defend his men's triple jump title from last season. In the event, Waithe finished second with his season-best leap of 52-8.25. Waithe though wasn't the only Nittany Lion to score points in the men's triple jump event.
In his first Big Ten Outdoor Championships, freshman Bryce Williams (State College, Pa.) tallied a seventh-place finish with his personal-best mark of 50-2. His mark will qualify him for the NCAA East Preliminary Round in two weeks in Jacksonville, Fla.
Starting at the same time (1:30 p.m.) as the men's triple jump, Shuey took to the runway for the men's javelin throw. Heading into Shuey's second to last throw of the competition, his teammate, Ryan Kerr (Brookville, Pa.) was in first with his personal-best toss of 229-2. Shuey, the defending champ, responded with a throw of 236-8 to take the lead.
His throw proved to be the winner, but Josh Suttmeier of Rutgers bumped Kerr to third on his final throw (231-11). With Kerr's mark today, he moves from ninth all-time in the Penn State record books to eighth.
"It was fun to defend my title with Ryan, who I have been throwing with pretty much since my sophomore year of high school," Shuey said. "Scoring those 16 points with Ryan for the team was pretty amazing."
Shuey also becomes the first Nittany Lion to win back to back Big Ten titles in men's javelin since Allen Pettner (2006-07); Troy Burkholder also won three-straight Big Ten titles from 1997-99.
Searching for his first Big Ten outdoor medal, Kidder took to the track as the top seed in the men's 800-meter run, as yesterday Kidder posted a time of 1:47.99 for the top spot in qualifying. Today, he took down the defending champ, Joe McAsey, for his first Big Ten outdoor title. Kidder went onto finish first in the race with his time of 1:47.56.
"I was starting to think I had some bad luck at the outdoor Big Ten meet," Kidder said. "I am glad to see I wasn't right about that."
He becomes the first Nittany Lion to win the men's 800-meter run since Casimir Loxsom won three-straight (2010-12). A year before Loxsom won his first title, Ryan Foster won the 2009 Big Ten title.
"I think it is a good weekend, especially morale-wise, we are doing a good job staying engaged and getting done what we need to get done," Kidder said following his race.
Senior Sancho Barrett (Amityville, N.Y.) added four points to the Nittany Lion total as he tallied a fifth-place finish in the men's 110-meter hurdles. He ran a wind-aided time of 13.71 in the race.
After posting a fourth-place finish in the men's 10,000-meter run Friday night, Glen Burkhardt (Kennett Square, Pa.) went back to the track for the men's 5,000-meter run. In the race, Burkhardt tallied a time of 14:25.91 en route to a fourth-place finish.
The Nittany Lion men ended the meet with a sixth-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay. The quartet of Xavier Smith (Douglassville, Pa.), Robert Rhodes (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Kidder and Alex Shisler (State College, Pa.) clocked in at 3:11.19.
"When you are operating in two-thirds capacity in regards to being down and redshirting, I am really proud in how this team fought for a fifth-place on the men's side and we were seventh on the women's side, but just a point out of sixth," Gondak said.
As a team, the Nittany Lions posted their highest finish at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships since they finished fifth at 2009 meet.
Men's Final Standings:
1. Illinois -- 145
2. Nebraska -- 109
3. Iowa -- 81
4. Ohio State - 78
5. Penn State - 67
6. Minnesota - 61
7. Michigan State & Wisconsin - 55
9. Purdue - 54
10. Michigan - 42
11. Rutgers - 36
12. Indiana - 28
13. Maryland -- 6
The Big Ten Network will be airing tape-delayed coverage of the 2015 Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships Sunday, May 24 at 11 a.m. ET
The Nittany Lions will not compete next weekend as they prepare for the 2015 NCAA East Preliminary Round. The East Preliminary Round is hosted by the University of North Florida at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. (May 28-30)
The top-48 declared student-athletes will be accepted for individual events and for each relay event, the top-24 declared relay teams will be accepted into the East Preliminary Round.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.