April 29, 2016
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - On a cold and rainy day at Franklin Field, Penn State took part in day one of the 122nd Penn Relays hosted by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Elyse Skerpon (Sayre, Pa.) opened up the competition on the track for the Nittany Lions recording a second-place finish in her heat recording a time of 1:03.53 in the 400-meter hurdles. Rachael DeCecco (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), competing in the same event, finished the event in a time of 1:04.89.
In the women's pole vault, Erin Knabe stole the show winning the event in a jump off with a best clearance of 3.80m (12' 5.5").
Megan Fry (State College, Pa.) competed in the women's pole vault as well, finishing the day with a best clearance of 3.65m (11'-11.75").
Obeng Marfo (Toronto, Ontario) recorded a second place finish in the women's discus throw. The sophomore from Toronto, Ontario finished the event with a throw of 49.12m (161'-2").
Alyssa Robinson (Saint Clairsville, Ohio), Rachael Fatherly (Williamsport, Pa.) teamed up to bring home three top-10 finishes in the women's shot put with their marks of 15.99m (52'-5.5"), 15.83m (51'-11.25"), and 14.80m (48'-8"), respectively.
Fatherly returned to the field for competition just a short hour later to compete in the women's hammer throw recording a sixth-place finish in the event with her best throw of 54.53m (178'-10").
The championship section of the women's pole vault featured Hannah Mulhern (Altoona, Pa.) and Kasey Kemp (Irwin, Pa.) who turned in top-10 performances with their best vaults of 3.90m (12'-9.5") and 3.80m (12'-5.5").
NCAA indoor championships qualifier Dannielle Gibson (Nassau, Bahamas) took to the runway recording a fourth-place finish jumping 5.74m (18'-10").
Tessa Barrett (Waverly, Pa.) and Jillian Hunsberger (Pittsburgh, Pa.) ran great 5K's for the Blue & White to finish second and fourth, respectively.
Barrett, who led the race during the final laps, raced to a season best time of 16:08.11 trailing only Florida's Taylor Tubbs who won the race in 16:07.55.
Hunsberger, a sophomore, finished close behind in a time of 16:27.39 just a few seconds off her personal best.
The men's 5K featured a pair of personal best as Colin Abert (Easton, Pa.) and Timothy McGowan (Northport, N.Y.) turned in times of 14:10.66 and 14:10.94 to finish ninth and 11th, respectively.
Glen Burkhardt (Kennett Square, Pa.) capped the night with his third-place performance in the 10,000-meters running a season best's time of 29:45.74.
Penn State will return to action at the 2016 Penn Relays tomorrow Apr. 29 starting at 9 a.m. from Franklin Field.
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