April 26, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - This past weekend the Penn State Track and field team saw a combined five school records go down at the Virginia Challenge., two of which were from the 1970s.
Morgan Shigo launched his way to the top of the record books with his throw of 221'-0" (67.36m). The sophomore from Blandon, Pa. erased the old school record of 218'-6" (66.60m) set by Alvin Jackson back in 1976. Shigo currently ranks No. 18 in the NCAA and sits at No. 3 in the Big Ten.
Indoor and outdoor pole vault school record holder Lexi Masterson improved on her outdoor record as she cleared a lifetime best 13'-4.5" (4.08m). The senior out of Jeannette, Pa. currently boasts the No. 4 mark in the Big Ten and No. 43 mark in the NCAA.
After missing the 4x100-meter school record by .02 at the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge, the quartet of Malik Moffett, Xavier Smith, Dan Chisena, and Karson Kowalchuk threw down the No. 1 time in Penn State history running 39.49. Their performance that currently sits at No. 3 in the Big Ten and No. 20 NCAA was good enough to take home the gold, and in the process, set a new meet record.
Freshman sensation Danae Rivers claimed her fourth individual school record as she posted a 2:02.54 800-meter time. Her school record performance currently ranks No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 5 in the NCAA.
All-American Isaiah Harris posted a nation leading 1:45.64 in the 800-meters when he took home the gold at Florida Relays. This past weekend at the Virginia challenge, the sophomore out of Lewiston, Maine lowered his nation leading time running a Penn State school record 1:45.12. The old record was held by Casmier Loxsom, the current World Record holder in the 600-meters.
Following Harris was Freshman Domenic Perretta who dipped under 1:48 for the first time in his career. The Beaver Falls, Pa. native currently ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 13 in the NCAA with his time of 1:47.29.
In her Heptathlon season debut, sophomore Madeline Holmberg put up 5,636 points to move to No. 3 in Penn State history. Her performance leads the Big Ten and puts her at No. 9 in the NCAA.
In the triple jump, Dannielle Gibson posted a 43'-4.25" (13.21m), while Kaitlyn Lopez recorded a mark of 42'-9.5", jumping their way to the No. 2 and No. 3 marks in the Big Ten this season, respectively.
In total, Penn State has 77-Big Ten top-20 performances this season, including six performances that lead the conference. For a complete list of Penn State's Big Ten top-20 marks click here.
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