March 25, 2018
RESULTS
TEMPE, Ariz. -Penn State wrapped up the 2018 Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge hosted by Arizona State Saturday night at Sun Angel Stadium.
A trio of Nittany Lions scored in the women's pole vault. Led by senior Hannah Mulhern at 3.72m (12'-2.50"), the group finished fourth, seventh and eighth, respectively, with Lexi Masterson 3.72m (12'-2.50") and Greer Gumbrecht 3.72m (12'-2.50") claiming the last two scoring spots.
Megan McCloskey opened up the outdoor season with a second-place finish in the women's high jump clearing 1.75m (5'-8.75"). Alexa Parks also scored in the event clearing 1.65m (5'-5") for seventh. Devin Bradham took the men's title clearing 2.10m (6'-10.75") while teammates Austin Campbell in fourth-place (2.05m/6'-8.75") and Spencer Hay in sixth-place (2.00m 6'-6.75") added points for Penn State.
Maddie Holmberg, fresh off her All-American indoor season, posted a second-place finish in the long jump with her leap of 6.09m (19'-11.75").
Jon Yohman finished the men's shot put with a best of 17.66m (57'-11.25") to finish sixth followed closely by Ben Peterson at 17.47m (57'-3.75") finished seventh in the event.
The men's 4x100-meter relay of Xavier Smith, Anton Porter, Terrance Laird, and Malik Moffett combined to record the third-fastest sprint relay in program history crossing the line in 39.77 seconds.
Jordan Makins ran 3:49.70 in the 1,500-meters to finish seventh overall in the event.
In the women's 800-meters, Victoria Tachinski (2:07.72) and Gary Ross III (1:50.63) each finished fifth, respectively, while Frances Bull scored in the event as well finishing seventh in 2:10.29. Tachinski finished less than half a second off adding her name to the all-time outdoor top-10 list, falling .44 seconds off the No. 10 time of 2:07.26 by Judi Cassel set in 1995.
Keianna Albury in fourth-place (11.82), and Anton Porter in eighth-place (10.86) served as the top finishes by Nittany Lions in the 100-meters. Moving to the 200-meters, Porter was the top Lion again running 22.02 for fifth-place on the men's side while for the women it was Keianna Albury leading the way with an eighth-place finish running 24.22.
Closing out the meet were the men's and women's 4x400-meter relays. The women's team of Kiara Lester, Deja Davis, Rachael DeCecco, Maddie Holmberg combined to run 3:44.59, while the men's team of Dan Chisena, Samuel Reiser, Domenic Perretta, Gary Ross III finished in 3:15.90.
The men's team finished sixth with a two day total of 66.5 points while the women's team finished in eighth-place scoring 50.5 points.
Penn State will split between two meets next week as part of the team will hit the west coast for the Stanford Invite while another group of athletes will travel to Gainesville, Fla. for Florida Relays with both meets taking place Mar. 30-31.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.