Feb. 26, 2016
Day One Results
GENEVA, OHIO - Penn State wrapped up day one action at the SPIRE Institute with 11 athletes qualifying for finals in their respective events and nine medal winners during the first day of the 2016 Big Ten Indoor Track & Field championships.
Madeline Holmberg and Tal Ben-Artzi got things going for the Nittany Lions, starting the meet off in the women's pentathlon 60-meter hurdles.
Holmberg finished her heat of the hurdles clocking a time of 8.71, a new personal best, en route to a second-place finish in the event. Ben-Artzi would record a time of 9.38 in the short hurdles scoring 832 points in the event.
Ben-Artzi and Holmberg wrapped-up the second event in the pentathlon posting marks of 1.64m (5'-4.50") and 1.49m (4'-10.50"), respectively, heading into the third event with total scores of 1615 (Ben-Artzi) and 1581 (Holmberg).
Holmberg would conclude the competition with marks of 11.79m (38'-8.25") in the shot put, 5.65m (18'-6.50") in the long jump, and 2:23.59 in the 800-meters over the final three events finishing with a total score of 3,747 points - a new personal best.
Julie Kocjancic punched her ticket to tomorrows final in the women's mile with her time of 4:45.27 in preliminary action, the ninth fastest time on the day in the event.
In the men's mile prelims, Brannon Kidder and true-freshman Colin Abert secured their spot in tomorrow's final with their performances of 4:07.16 and 4:08.16, respectively. Bobby Hill finished 14th clocking 4:09.06 during prelims.
In the women's 800-meters Sarah Jane Underwood ran a personal-best 2:07.73, No. 3 all-time in Penn State indoor history, to qualify for the finals of the 800-meters set to run at 2:20 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
"The last time I ran at the Big Ten meet was freshman year while I was battling an injury so I'm really happy to be back to compete this year," said Underwood. "I'm happy to qualify for the finals and contribute to the team. The race was good, I ended up leading it for a majority of the race and just tried to close and finish over the last stretch of the race."
Underwood entered the event with a season best of 2:09.64 set earlier this year at the Penn State National on January 29th.
Freshman Isaiah Harris, entering the meet No. 7 in the NCAA in the men's 800-meters, ended day one as the top qualifier in the event with a time of 1:48.93. Accompanying Harris in the final of the 800-meters will be Jordan Makins who secured the final qualifying spot in the event with his time of 1:50.53. Harris and Makins are set to compete for the Big Ten Championship in the 800-meters tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
Xavier Smith, who entered the meet as the top competitor in the Big Ten 60-meters having clocked 6.68 seconds during the regular season and the school record holder in the event, qualified for the finals running a time of 6.80 seconds in the prelims - the seventh fastest time on the day.
Quenee Dale, entering the event with a season best time of 8.26 seconds the fourth fastest time in school history, punched her ticket through to the finals clocking 8.34 over the 60-meter distance. Dale will run in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles tomorrow at 2:40 p.m.
The women's pole vault would see junior Lexi Masterson reset the school record in the event yet again as she finished the day with a best clearance of 4.21m (13'-9.75")
Masterson entered the competition after passing the first two bars (3.71m, 3.86m) opening up with a first attempt clearance of 4.01m (13'-1.75"). Masterson cleared three more bars before bowing with a miss at 4.26m (13'-11.75"), followed by two passes, and two misses at 4.31m (14'-1.75").
Competing in the pole vault with Masterson were Hannah Mulhern who tied for sixth at 4.01m (13'-1.75"), Kasey Kemp in 11th at 4.01m (13'-1.75"), and Megan Fry in 12th at 3.86m (12'-8.00") netting the women's team 10.5 points in the event.
Robert Rhodes qualified through to the finals of the 600-meters with his time of 1:17.58 he posted in the prelims. Rhodes finished sixth at last years Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Xavier Smith and Malik Moffett hit the track again, this time in the 200-meters where both athletes advanced into tomorrows finals with their times of 21.02 and 21.08, respectively. Smith's 21.02 ties the fastest mark laid down this season by a Nittany Lion in the 200-meters matching Moffett's 21.02 that he ran during the Penn State National on January 29th.
The women's 3,000-meters would see Penn State pick up 18-points as Tori Gerlach, Tessa Barrett, and Elizabeth Chikotas would all finish in scoring position of the Friday night final. Gerlach would claim second-place in a time of 9:12.88, trailing only Michigan's Erin Finn who clocked 9:08.09 over the 3K distance, while Tessa Barrett took third-place in 9:16.49 and Chikotas finished fifth in 9:21.91.
Rachel Fatherly, Obeng Marfo, and Alyssa Robinson teamed up to bring home 19-points in the women's shot put taking second, third, and fourth-places for the Nittany Lions. Fatherly finished second with her toss of 16.13m (52'-11.00") while Obeng ended competition with a best throw of 16.09m (52'-9.50"), followed by Robinson's best mark of 15.91m (52'-2.50"), a PR of almost four feet.
The men's shot put would prove to be just as exciting as Jon Yohman contributed to the men's team total with his finish in the event, claiming sixth-place on his final throw of 17.98m (59'-0"), a new personal best.
Madeline Holmberg wrapped things up in the field for day one as she took seventh in the women's long jump with her best mark of 5.91m (19'-4.75"), tying her personal best in the event.
In the final running event of the day, the Distance Medley Relays, Penn State would not disappoint as both relays would finish in scoring positions with the men's relay winning their fourth-consecutive DMR title.
The women's would carry the baton to the tune of 11:28.72 to take sixth-place and add another three points to the bank.
The men's relay seized control of the race early as Jordan Makins ran the opening leg and making the first exchange with the Nittany Lions in second-place, just a step off the lead.
Alex Shisler would hold steady handing off to Isaiah Harris in second-place as well.
Harris would make the final and determining exchange to Brannon Kidder with the Nittany Lions still in second-place.
Kidder would run his entire leg in the hip pocket of Michigan State's Daniel Sims before swinging wide and leaving the entire field over the final 200-meters to lead the Penn State DMR to a fourth-consecutive Big Ten title with Kidder on the anchor crossing the line and stopping the clock at 9:43.25.
Penn State completed day one action with the women's team holding the lead in the team competition with 56.5 points - 19.5 points ahead of second-place Minnesota - while the men currently sit in eighth-place with 13 points after one day of competition.
The final day of competition will get underway tomorrow starting at 10 a.m. with day two of the men's heptathlon.