March 2, 2016
| Accepted Entries |
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Penn State track & field team will send eight student-athletes to compete next weekend at the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships. The NCAA Championships are held at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala., March 11-12.
Week six rankings released by the USTFCCCA Tuesday have the Nittany Lion men's team ranked No. 17 in the nation.
On the women's side, Penn State will be represented in four individual events by four athletes. The participants for the women are Tori Gerlach (5,000-meters), Tessa Barrett (5,000-meters), Dannielle Gibson (Triple Jump), and Rachel Fatherly (Shot Put).
Meanwhile, the men will have three entries to the NCAA championships, including two athletes in individual events and its two-time NCAA runner-up Distance Medley Relay. The Nittany Lion men's individual NCAA entries are Brannon Kidder (800-meter), and Isaiah Harris (800-meters).
The six athletes in the individual events earned a spot in the field by being among the top 16 marks in the NCAA this season, while the relays had to be in the nation's top-12 fastest times.
Fatherly, Gerlach and Kidder have all earned at least one All-America honor in the past.
Kidder, returns to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships following a 2015 season that saw Kidder earn First-Team All-American honors as part of the NCAA runner-up DMR that posted a time of 9:32.21 and finished seventh individually in the men's mile in a time of 4:04.48.
Fatherly qualified for the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in the shot put and the weight throw posting a distance of 52'-10" to place 11th in the shot put and finished 16th in the weight throw with her mark of 63'-1.25" to claim Second team All-American honors.
At the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Gerlach finished 10th in the 5,000-meter run (16:00.28) and 14th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:14.79) earning Second team All-American honors.
Harris, a freshman, has burst on the scene in 2016 and owns the NCAA's 4th-fastest 800-meter time at 1:46.24. The Lewiston, Maine native recorded his time in a first-place finish at the Big Ten Championships last week in Geneva, Ohio that set a new all-time Big Ten indoor record, a Big Ten indoor championships record, a SPIRE institute facility record, a Penn State school record, and a personal best time in the process.
Fatherly ranks No. 8 in the shot put with a season best mark of 56'-8" (17.27m), recorded at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup on February 5th. The senior from Williamsport, Pa. enters the NCAA meet as the school record holder in the women's shot and three first-place finishes in the eventon the year.
Barrett and Gibson will make their NCAA Indoor Championships debut as they enter the meet with the 9th and 15th-best marks in their events, respectively. Barrett recorder her time of 15:46.08 at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. breaking the 31-year-old school record of 15:53.50 set by Paula Renzi back in 1985. Barrett enters the NCAA meet coming off a third-place finish at the Big ten Championships this past week. Gibson enters the championships with her mark of 43'-1.5" (13.14m) she set at the Nittany Lion Challenge on January 16th. Gibson's jump ranks as the No. 2 mark in program history behind the school record of 44'-1.5" set by Chi-Chi Aduba back in 2004.
The men's DMR enters the meet sporting the third-best tim in the field. The quartet of Jordan Makins, Alex Shisler, Isaiah Harris, and Brannon Kidder ran to the tune of 9:27.20 back on January 29th as they recorded the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history, at the time, in a down to-the-wire race against Stanford at the Penn State National that was live streamed on Flotrack.com. Penn State has finished second in the DMR in the last two NCAA Indoor Championships.
ESPN3 will stream the meet live on March 11 and 12, starting at 6:25 p.m. ET on Friday and 4:55 p.m. ET on the second day of action. A tape delay of the championship will air Sunday, March 13 starting at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
For more information regarding the Division I indoor track and field championships, log on to www.ncaa.com.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.