March 13, 2017
USTFCCCA Release
NEW ORLEANS, LA ââ'¬" With the 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field season official coming to an end this past weekend in College Station, Texas, it's time for an updated look at the NCAA Division I Program of the Year as released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Monday afternoon.
The Penn State women's cross country/track & field program is currently No. 7 in the second of three reports of the year following the Indoor Championships.
Coming off a Big Ten Indoor title just a few weeks ago, the Nittany Lions pieced together a T-10th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor meet bringing home All-American performances in the mile, triple jump, 5,000-meters and the Distance Medley Relay.
Tessa Barrett ran her way to a fifth-place finish in the 5K running a time of 15:42.29 to become the first Nittany Lion to earn All-American honors in the 5,000-meters since 2010.
The DMR of Danae Rivers, Tichina Rhodes, Rachel Banks and Julie Kocjancic finished sixth running 11:04.89 - the second fastest time in Penn State history ââ'¬" to earn the second All-American honors of the weekend.
Day two featured All-American finishes for Rivers in the mile (third-place) and Dannielle Gibson in the triple jump (eighth-place) to finish the meet tied for 10th-place, the second best finish at the Indoor Championships in program history trailing the seventh-place finish by Penn State in 2009.
For those uninitiated, the USTFCCCA Program of the Year Award honors the institution that has achieved the most success in each academic year (spanning the cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field seasons) based on the institution's finish at the NCAA Championships.
In order to be eligible for the award, teams must qualify for each of the NCAA Championships. Scoring is based on the team's finish at each NCAA Championship in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field (i.e. 1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 points, 31st = 31 points) with the lowest total score for all three championships combined determining the award recipient. Ties among schools split points for positions taken.
Penn State will take a week off before transitioning to outdoor season where the Nittany Lions will open up at the PAC-12/Big Ten Challenge hosted by Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. March 24-25.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.