June 8, 2017
RESULTS
EUGENE, Ore. - Penn State wrapped up the opening day of the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Historic Hayward Field with one Nittany Lion earning All-American honors and another qualifying for the NCAA final in his event Wednesday afternoon.
Day one for Penn State was highlighted by Michael Shuey who earned All-American honors in the javelin with his third-place finish and school record mark. Shuey entered the meet having reset the school record with his season best of 250'-2" (76.25m) at the 123rd Penn Relays in Philadelphia back in April. He finished the NCAA meet improving upon his personal best and school record mark throwing 250'-9" (76.42m). The All-American honor in the javelin is the first for Penn State on the men's side since Carl Wolter finished seventh in 1998 and the first overall for Penn State since school record holder Laura Loht finished fifth back in 2014.
Shuey wasn't the only Nittany Lion the runway as teammates Michael Biddle and Ryan Kerr competed for the Blue & White in the event as well. Kerr, a senior, finished ninth with a personal best and program No. 7 mark of 232'-0" (70.71m) earning Second-Team All-American honors while freshman Michael Biddle 18th with a best of 219'-8" (66.95m).
The men's 4x100-meter relay were the first ones on the track for Penn State during preliminary action. Karson Kowalchuk, Dan Chisena, Xavier Smith and Malik Moffett all made their NCAA Outdoor Championships debut piecing together a time of 39.15 - the second-fastest time in program history - finishing fourth in the third heat and 13th-overall.
Indoor All-American and four-time defending Big Ten Champion at 800-meters, Isaiah Harris, took to the track for prelims in the event along with teammate Domenic Perretta. Harris finished second in his heat with a time of 1:46.62 trailing only UTEP's Michael Saruni who recorded the fastest time during the preliminary round running 1:46.38. Harris auto-qualified for the final by finishing in the top-two of his heat and will compete in his third NCAA final in the event to go along with his appearance in last year's outdoor final as well as this year's indoor final.
Perretta finished 21st running a time of 1:49.14 during his preliminary heat of the 800-meters.
Moffett, who opened his day of competition in the 4x100-meter relay earlier in the day, returned to the track for the second of his three events at the NCAA meet this time the 200-meters. The junior finished 22nd in a time of 20.93.
The third of Moffett's triad was the long jump, an event Moffett captured the Big Ten title in a short few weeks ago in Happy Valley. The Erie, Pa. native finished 18th with a best jump of 24'-0.25" (7.32m).
Jon Yohman made his NCAA Championships debut by earning Second-Team All-American honors in the shot put. Yohman finished with a best throw of 62'-0.50" (18.91m).
The Penn State women's team will begina competition tomorrow starting at 5 p.m. PT with Hannah Mulhern in the pole vault.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.