Feb. 24, 2017
RESULTS
GENEVA, Ohio -- Penn State wrapped up the opening day of the Big Ten Indoor Championships at the Spire Institute with the Nittany Lion women leading with 30-points and the men in seventh with 14-points after the first day.
Robert Cardina started competition for Penn State in the men's heptathlon with the men's 60-meters.
The senior from Lancaster, Pa. opened competition with a time of 7.13 in the 60-meters.
Cardina followed up the 60-meters with a mark of 22'-3.75" (6.80m) in the long jump.
Event No. 3 for Cardina, shot put, saw Cardina record a mark of 44'-1.50" (13.45m) before finishing day one with a mark of 6'-6.25" (1.99m) in the high jump to finish day one with a total score of 3,093 sitting in third-place
DeCecco, like Cardina started the day for the Penn State women's team with her pentathlon performance.
DeCecco recorded marks of 9.04 seconds (60-meters), 4'-7.50" (1.41m) in the high jump, 28'-3" (8.61m) in the shot put, 16'-10.75" (5.15m) and a time of 2:16.30 in the 800-meters to finish with a five event total of 3,339 to take 15th-place.
In the field, Hannah Mulhern took fifth-place in the women's pole vault clearing 13'-03.50" (4.05m) while Lexi Masterson -- current school record holder -- took eighth-place in the event clearing 13'-1.50" (4.00m).
Jon Yohman captured the first Big Ten medal of the night claiming bronze in the men's shot put with his throw of 60'-8.75" (18.51m).
Alyssa Robinson turned in a silver medal performance of her own as she finished the meet with a best throw of 53'-3.00" (16.23m) in the women's shot put.
Obeng Marfo chipped in points for Penn State with her eighth-place performance in the shot put throwing 51'-1.50" (15.58m).
Malik Moffett who you'll hear about later in the 200-meters, took his speed to the runway finishing the long jump with a best mark of 24'-2.50" (7.38m) finishing seventh and adding points to the board.
The women's mile prelims saw two Nittany Lions advance to tomorrow's final in Julie Kocjancic and Marissa Sheva.
Kocjancic, currently No. 4 all-time in program history in the event (4:40.43), led her head until the final meters securing her spot with a time of 4:47.37.
Sheva, a dual-sport athlete coming to the track from the soccer field, showed her wheels as she secured a spot in the final with her time of 4:51.46 -- a new personal best.
Xavier Smith will race in tomorrow's 60-meter final after blazing the track to the time of 6.69 seconds and winning his heat in the process.
Keianna Albury advanced to the finals in the 60-meters as well running a time of 7.32 that was the fastest mark during preliminary action and stands as the No. 4 time in program history.
Isaiah Harris and true freshman Domenic Perretta advanced to tomorrow's final in the 800-meters as they both won their preliminary heats in time of 1:48.48 and 1:49.18, respectively.
Just as the men qualified to runners to tomorrow's 800-meter final, the women did as well.
School record holder Danae Rivers, a true freshman, advanced running a time of 2:07.80 winning the first preliminary heat.
Rachel Banks, a Chadron, Ohio native, raced her way to the No. 4 mark in school history with her time of 2:06.99 setting a personal best as well.
Quenee Dale took third in her heat of the 60-meter hurdles, but advanced to the final based on time as she clocked a season best 8.29 seconds just .03 seconds off her personal best mark.
Sam Reiser will represent the Blue & White in the finals of the 600-meters following his time of 1:18.21 during prelims. Reiser's time was a new personal best for the sophomore from Melbourne, Australia.
Frances Bull, running in front of a home crowd (Mentor, Ohio), punched her ticket to finals in the 600-meters as she ran a personal best of 1:30.53.
In the men's 200-meters Malik Moffett erased the old school record of 20.98 set by Ryan Olkowski from 2002 as Moffett recorded a time of 20.81 followed closely by Xavier Smith's 20.85.
Moffett and Smith are now ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the indoor 200-meters all-time in program history.
Albury, back from the 60-meters made it 2-for-2, qualifying for the 200-meter final in a time of 23.55 that was the fastest non-auto qualifier of the day.
Tim McGowan took eighth in the men's 3K after getting tripped up during the race running a time of 8:18.94 to put points on the board for the Nittany Lions.
The women's 3K featured two Penn State athletes who finished in scoring position in Tessa Barrett (fourth-place) and Jillian Hunsberger in eighth-place. Barrett recorded a time of 9:09.19 while Hunsberger ran a personal best time of 9:20.23 to take eighth-place.
In the final event on the track for day one, the Distance Medley Relay, Penn State saw both teams finish in the top five.
The men's DMR quartet of Jordan Makins, Tyreek Mathis, Domenic Perretta and Isaiah Harris -- who anchored the relay with a 4:03 leg for the mile portion - combined to run a time of 9:42.12 to take fourth-place.
The women's DMR -- Julie Kocjancic, Tichina Rhodes, Rachel Banks and Danae Rivers -- brought home the second ever Big Ten title in the event for Penn State joining the relay of Tracey Brauksieck, Cheryl Green, Lindsay Scottoline and Jenny Stevens in 2003.
The squad carried the baton to the tune of 11:10.53 to capture gold for Penn State with a come-from-behind performance anchored by the freshman phenom Danae Rivers bringing it home.
Penn State returns to the track tomorrow morning with Robert Cardina starting day two action in the men's heptathlon starting with the 60-meter hurdles at 10 a.m. ET
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