July 7, 2016
EUGENE, Ore. ââ'¬" Thursday's action at the U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials would see a total of five Nittany Lions, highlighted by Robby Creese, competing on the track and in the field for a chance to represent Team USA in the Rio Olympics.
Rachel Fatherly got the day started for Penn State in the prelims of the women's shot put.
The school record holder in both indoor and outdoor shot put finished the day with a best mark of 15.44m (50'-8") to take 22ndââ'¬"place.
Next up would be Brian Leap in the prelims of the men's triple jump.
Leap, who competed at Hayward field just a short few weeks ago in the NCAA Championships, finished competition with a mark of 16.01m (52'-6.50") on his final jump in the prelims. Leap finished in 15th-place narrowly missing advancing to the finals of the triple jump as the top 12 moved on to finals.
The prelims of the women's 100-meter hurdles featured former Nittany Lion Evonne Britton, now of Shore AC, run 13.13 in the event finishing as the second athlete out in 22nd-place. The top three from each heat plus the next six fastest times in the women's 100-meter hurdles advanced to semi-final action.
Robby Creese made a statement in the 1,500-meters finishing in automatic qualifying position to advance to the semi-finals with his time of 3:42.89. Creese's time was the 13th-fastest on the day heading into the semi-finals in the men's 1,500-meters that are slated to be run Friday July 8th at 7:10 p.m. ET.
The final competitor on the day for Penn State was 2010 PSU graduate Bridget Franek who took sixth-place in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase recording a time of 9:33.51.
On deck tomorrow for Penn State will be Mahagony Jones (PSU '13) of New Balance in the prelims of the women's 200-meters at 6:30 p.m. ET along with the aforementioned Creese in the 1,500-meters.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.