June 8, 2016
RESULTS
EUGENE, Ore. - Isaiah Harris and Brannon Kidder punched their tickets to the NCAA finals in their respective events Wednesday afternoon at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Both Harris and Kidder advanced by way of the auto "Q" finishing in automatic qualifying position in each of their races.
"It was an excellent day for Penn State," said head coach John Gondak.
"We came in with two athletes competing today and both advanced to the finals. This (semifinals) here is the hardest round. It's the one right before the final, you have 24 of the best athletes in the country here and for Brannon to move on and make the final in the 1,500-meters and Isaiah to go to the final in the 800-meters it really shows their competitiveness and I couldn't be more proud of them. Now, making the final you get to go out and have fun and let loose the pressure is all off at this point."
Brannon Kidder was up first on the track for Penn State in the semifinals of the men's 1,500-meters.
The All-American from Lancaster, Ohio entered the meet having qualified for a NCAA final in each of his previous appearances on the big stage and today was no different as Kidder qualified for his last NCAA final during his illustrious career running in the Blue & White.
"It felt pretty good," said Kidder.
"It was pretty controlled; I was in the back so I didn't have to deal with too much traffic. It felt smooth; it was a good effort today. I'm looking forward to racing and having fun in my last NCAA championships and giving everything I have."
Kidder who at one point of the race was in dead last of his heat with about 800-meters to go, used a veteran move to work his way up the front of the pack using the final 300-meters to secure his spot in second-place behind Akron's Clayton Murphy who won the heat in a time of 3:49.03.
Kidder's time of 3:49.06 was the 13th-fastest time in the semifinals but qualified him for the finals by finishing in the top-five of his heat to secure an automatic spot in Friday's race set to be run at 5:42 p.m. PT.
Isaiah Harris, a true freshman from Lewiston, Maine, entered the meet having captured indoor and outdoor Big Ten titles in the 800-meters, as well as qualifying for the NCAA Indoor championships in the event.
"After the race I felt amazing; making finals was my goal," said Harris. "I treated it like this was the last race of my career, I went out there and had fun. I figured we were going to go out pretty fast, it was a decent pace, I just had to answer to every move that was made - it was kind of an unorthodox race, a little weird - but I felt pretty good out there."
Harris finished second in his heat to lock up an automatic trip to the final running a time of 1:46.24 over the half-mile race.
Penn State has one athlete set to compete in Lauren Kenney who will step to the runway in the women's javelin throw starting at 5:45 p.m. PT.
"I'm looking forward to (Lauren Kenney) finishing her career off in style," said Gondak.
"She's been a staple of this program since she was a freshman. She obviously missed last season because of some injuries and its just so fantastic tyo see her back and in action and at the NCAA's and hopefully we can go three-for-three and have her make the final as well."
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