May 30, 2015
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Penn State track & field team closed out the NCAA East Preliminary Round Saturday with five Nittany Lions advancing on to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships Saturday at Hodges Stadium. Tori Gerlach (Perkasie, Pa.) advanced to the NCAA Championships in her second event of the weekend.
"I thought the weekend went fantastic," head coach and director of Penn State cross country and track & field John Gondak said. "The group that qualified on was everybody that we expected, minus Michael Shuey who suffered an injury to his elbow at the Big Ten Championships that affected his performance, but everyone that came in and were ranked in the top-12 in their respective events advanced on to the NCAA Championships. We picked up a few bonus performances from Glen and Elizabeth."
Elizabeth Chikotas (Hellertown, Pa.), Robby Creese (Mount Airy, Md.) and Gerlach advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the track, while Darrell Hill (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Steve Waithe (Parkville, Md.) advanced in the field.
Seniors Hill and Waithe head back to Eugene, Ore., for a second-straight year following their performances Saturday.
Heading into the competition, Hill ranked second in the country (Crouser -- Texas) and was the top seed in the field. Three throws separated Hill and a chance at returning to the NCAA Championships.
Hill opened up the event with a toss of 59 feet, 3 inches, which had him on the outside looking in. On his second attempt, he punched his ticket with an event-leading toss of 66-8.5. His mark of 66-8.5 held as the top spot in the field.
Last year in his first NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships appearance, Hill finished 15th in the shot put with his is toss of 62-9.50.
"Darrell has made big strides from last year to this year," Gondak said. "He is an extremely confident athlete right now, sometimes you open up with a bad mark you get thoughts in your head and it might impact your performance, but Darrell was very cool, calm and collected on his second throw. He did what he needed to do to move on."
After a tallying a fifth-place in the triple jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Waithe is heading back to Eugene, Ore. On his first attempt of the evening, Waithe posted a distance of 51-4.5, which held as the ninth-best qualifying mark. Heading into the event, Waithe was seeded eleventh in the field.
"Steve had some struggles early on during the indoor season, but he has come on the past couple weeks and has really put it together," Gondak said. "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you are first, fifth or twelve in this competition, it is all about making it to the next round and he did that tonight."
On the track, a trio of Nittany Lions, including a pair of runners in the 5,000-meter run, punched their tickets Saturday. Both Gerlach and Chikotas posted fourth-place finishes in their respective heats to automatically advance to the NCAA meet.
A night after punching her ticket in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal-best performance, Gerlach went back to the track for the 5,000-meter run.
In the first heat, Emily Sisson (Providence) and Kate Avery (Iona) broke away from the field leaving the final three automatic spots up for grabs. Midway through the race, Michigan State's Rachele Schulist put a four second lead on a pack of five runners fighting for the final two automatic spots.
With a strong final two laps from Gerlach, the Penn State junior clocked-in for a personal-best 15 minutes, 58.79 seconds en route to a fourth-place finish. Gerlach became the fourth Nittany Lion to break the 16-minute barrier. Earlier this year at the Big Ten Championships, Gerlach posted a then-outdoor personal-best time of 16:19.89.
"Tori is extremely confident right now and in track & field, running great performances is all about being confident," Gondak said. "She has had a goal for many years to break 16 minutes in the 5,000-meter run and her heat tonight went out really fast and about a mile in she realized that was going to be a fast race and it motivated her even more to get the job done."
Following Gerlach's record book performance in the first heat, it was the Chikotas' turn to take to the track in heat two.
Like in the first heat, a pair of runners broke away early in the race. Within the first few laps, Erin Finn (Michigan) and Liv Westphal (Boston College) broke away from the pack setting up 21 runners fighting for the other three automatic qualifying spots.
Chikotas, along with a pack of seven runners were separated within a second of each other for the majority of the race. The pack remained strong as with three laps remaining, Chikotas continued to run five other runners battling for an automatic spot in Eugene, Ore.
With two laps remaining, Chikotas made her move separating herself from the pack. North Carolina's Annie LeHardy caught Chikotas on the final lap, but they both moved on to the next round in two weeks. Chikotas placed fourth overall in the race with her time of 16:09.26.
"As I stressed to the team this weekend, it is not necessarily about a great performance, it is about knowing what the advancement procedure and following it," Gondak said. "Elizabeth knew she had to be top-five and she hung around the back of that pack for most of the race and then she had one of best closes of the night in terms of her final 800-meters.
Despite being near the front of the pack for the majority of the men's 1,500-meter run, Creese advanced on to Eugene, Ore. based on his qualifying time. The top-seven finishers in the heat two of the men's 1,500-meter run finished within one second of each other. Creese finished seventh in heat two with his time of 3:45.30.
"With Robby putting his advancement on a time qualifier is very stressful, but he found himself in a strange position with him leading the majority of his race, but at the end of the day he moves on to the NCAA Championships," Gondak said.
Also on the track, senior Sancho Barrett (Amityville, N.Y.) finished out his Penn State career Saturday, as he finished 16th in the quarterfinals of the men's 110-meter hurdles (13.94). Barrett ends his career tied for third all-time in the Penn State record books with his time of 13.80.
In all eight Nittany Lions will head to the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, including Gerlach who has advanced in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meter run.
Earlier this week, Glen Burkhardt (Kennett Square, Pa.) advanced on in the 10,000-meter run, Rachel Fatherly (Williamsport, Pa.) posted a top-12 finish in the shot put and Brannon Kidder (Lancaster, Ohio) moved on in the 800-meter run.
The 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships are held June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
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