May 13, 2017
DAY-TWO RESULTS
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - With one day left in the 2017 Big Ten Track & Field Championships, Penn State holds the team lead on the men's side while the women's are currently in third-place after two days at the Nittany Lion Outdoor Track.
The points continue to pour in for Penn State as the Nittany Lions competed in multiple event finals as well as continuing to run in preliminary rounds in preparation for tomorrow's finals.
Kaitlyn Lopez and Dannielle Gibson brought home points in the women's long jump finishing seventh and eighth in the event with marks of 19'-8" (5.99m) and 19'-6.75" (5.96m), respectively.
Megan McCloskey medaled in the women's high jump with a best bar of 5'-11.25" (1.81m) earning bronze. McCloskey's jump is just one-half inch (0.50") off her personal best and No. 2 mark in program history of 5'-11.75" (1.82m).
Obeng Marfo finished fifth in the women's discus with her mark of 170'-2" (51.87m), while Jon Yohman brought home two points in the shot put for Penn State with his seventh-place finish posting a best throw of 60'10" (18.54m).
Malik Moffett did something no other Nittany Lion before him has done with his jump of 26'-3" (8.00m) in the long jump to win the conference title. Moffett posted the school record mark on his second attempt of the prelims and never looked back, holding the lead from then until the end of competition. Moffett's mark of 26'3" erased the old school record of 25'-11" set by David Coney from 1985.
In the women's steeplechase Tori Gerlach and Greta Lindsley cashed in their performances for points for Penn State grabbing third and fifth-place finishes for a total of 10-points. Gerlach ran 10:19.28 while Lindsley ran 10:22.09 in the event.
Back on the track in preliminary action, Dan Chisena and Tyreek Mathis recorded the No. 8 and No. 10 times in school history in the 400-meters with their times of 46.83 and 46.93, respectively, to punch their tickets to the finals.
Sunday's final in the men's 100-meters will feature three Nittany Lions as Xavier Smith (10.35), Malik Moffett (10.54) and Karson Kowalchuk (10.55) all advanced to the finals led by Smith who recorded the No. 1 time in the prelims and the No. 2 time in program history falling just one one-hundredth (0.01) of a second off the school record pace of 10.34 by Mike Sands in 1975.
Keianna Albury made her way into the women's 100-meter final running 11.71 taking second in her heat and locking up the automatic qualifying spot for tomorrow.
Isaiah Harris, three-time Big Ten Champion in the 800-meters, secured his spot in tomorrow's final winning his heat in 1:48.71 while teammate Domenic Perretta followed suite grabbing the second available auto-qualifying spot in the very next heat with his time of 1:49.17.
The women's 800-meter will also feature two Nittany Lions in Danae Rivers (2:04.88) and Rachel Banks (2:05.14) - Danae Rivers is the reigning Big Ten Champion in the 800-meters from indoor season.
After two days of competition, Penn State leads the meet on the men's side with 52-points and is currently third on the women's side with a total of 40-points.
Tomorrow's finals are slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. with the men's triple jump and will conclude with the women's 4x400-meters set to begin at 4:45 p.m.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.