Dec. 10, 2016
COMPLETE RESULTS
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State track & field teams wrapped up yet another successful Blue & White meet at the Horace Ashenfelter III indoor track Saturday afternoon.
In a meet that matches teammate vs. teammate, it came down to two underclassmen stepping up in the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay to decide the winner of the annual Blue & White intrasquad meet.
2016 U.S. Olympic Trials 800-meter finalist took the baton for team white while freshman Tyreek Mathis took the stick for team blue on what would turn out to be an eventful mile-relay.
Both athletes were running stride for stride with 100-meters to go before Mathis began to pull away in the closing meters to secure the win for not only his relay, but his team as well as team blue squeaked out a one-point win over team white 75-74.
For the women's team, team white took home the team title with a nine point victory (77-68) over team white.
"What I liked about today's meet was the competitiveness," said head coach John Gondak.
"It's been a common theme of mine for the past three years to really `work on being a competitor'. The better competitor you are in this sport, the better you will be. We saw a lot of amazing things today, saw a lot of people really improve from last year to this year, saw a lot of people who came in and had PR's today, this is just a starting point but it was a lot of fun.."
The Blue & White meet official started Friday night in Holuba Hall with the men's and women's javelin and discus throw. Kayla Zoschg (42.69m/ 140"-01') and Michael Shuey (70.16m/230'-02") took home the titles, respectively in the javelin while David Lucas (56.81m/186'-05") and Obeng Marfo (46.48m/152'-06") took home titles in the discus throw. Finishing up the throws on day two, Alyssa Robinson (20.75m/68'-1") and Morgan Shigo (19.88m/65'-2.75") won the weight throw events. Shot put titles were claimed by Robinson (15.41m/50-6.75") and Jon Yohman recording a mark of 18.10m (59-4.75").
In the horizontal jumps, Dannielle Gibson swept the long and triple jump events recording marks of 5.74m (18'-10") and 12.82m (42'-0.75"), respectively.
For the men, Malik Moffett (7.17m/23-6.25") won the long jump while Bryce Williams got the win in the triple with his mark of 14.49m (47'-6.50").
The vertical jump titles were claimed by Megan McCloskey (1.76m/5'-9.25") for the women and Chisom Ifedi (2.05m/6'-8.75") for the men.
The vaults saw Hannah Mulhern (4.00m/13-1.5") and Patrick Anderson (4.90m/16-0.75") soar to event titles.
Quenee Dale (7.95) and Alex McCord (8.46) both captured 55-meter hurdle titles while in the 55-meter open it was Xavier Smith (6.33) and Keianna Albury (6.99) capturing gold.
Albury returned to the track to claim 300-meter honors for the women (38.74) with Malik Moffett surging late to take the event for the men in 33.67 seconds.
Stepping up to the 500-meters and 600-meters it was sophomore Frances Bull (1:14.14) and Isaiah Harris (1:17.53) finishing first, respectively, to cap the sprinting events for the day.
Distance event winners on the day included Michael Slagowski (2:58.14) and Danae Rivers (3:24.25) in the 1,200-meters and Timothy McGowan (8:32.31) and Greta Lindsley (9:39.11) in the 3K.
Penn State will open the 2016 season at home Jan. 14 at the Ashenfelter III indoor track as they host the Nittany Lion Challenge.