April 12, 2018
By Alyssa Palfey, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State track and field team is staying close to home this weekend as they travel to Lewisburg to compete at the Bucknell Classic.
During the outdoor season, the Nittany Lions tend to travel across the country to compete. Throughout the season so far, the teams have traveled to Arizona, Florida, California and Louisiana as a part of their outdoor schedule. This weekend, they are minimizing their travel by going just over an hour away to compete at Bucknell.
This distance from home means more than just a shorter travel to senior pole vaulter Hannah Mulhern. Being so close to Mulhern's hometown, Altoona, is a reason why she enjoys competing in this Pennsylvania meet.
"It's really nice to come to local meets in Pennsylvania because a lot of my high school teammates chose to go to schools in Pennsylvania. A lot of them still do track, so they will be showing up to this meet. That is also nice because it gives it another sense of feeling like home," Mulhern said. "Competing somewhere with lots of familiar faces, and a lot of times I'll see families that I recognize. My family even comes to these meets since they are so close to home, so that's another advantage and something I look forward to competing at Bucknell."
Although having familiar faces competing and in the crowd at this local meet means a lot to Mulhern, so does having a night of sleep in her own bed. Mulhern says the limited travel to this meet really helps with competing on meet day.
"Competing at Bucknell is really nice because it's basically in our back yard. It's pretty much a home meet for us. I think competing in Pennsylvania will be really beneficial for us. It's like a home indoor track meet for us where we just get to wake up and have breakfast at home, prep however we want to prep, sleep in our own bed the night before, those things are really big when it comes to getting in a routine for a meet," said Mulhern.
"Over the years I've realized, all the travel, the plane rides and the bus, that's all just extra obstacles that we have to overcome. It's great to compete in warm weather, and I'm so grateful that we get to do that. It's kind of tough recovering from those long travel days to come out and compete really well, so I'm really excited to get to rest our legs the night before and not be traveling all day long and have a fairly normal day to compete without all the extra travel hassle," she added.
Since the Nittany Lions are so used to traveling far for outdoor season, they usually expect nicer weather to accompany their travel. Being in Pennsylvania, the weather isn't something that the team can rely on this weekend. Mulhern says she's used to the unpredictable weather patterns that the state brings.
"The other thing about traveling is we chase the nice weather, but it doesn't always turn out the way we want it to be. In Arizona it was windy, but we usually know it's going to be nice in the places, but it might be really windy, or it might rain," Mulhern said.
"You never know what the weather is going to be like. Luckily, looking into it, for a majority of the people competing it's supposed to be sunny and 75 on Saturday, which will be really nice. Sunday when I am competing, it's going to be cooler and calling for rain, but that's just something you have to deal with. Being from Pennsylvania and having to compete in snow and rain and cold temperatures in high school, I'm pretty used to it, so I try to not let that get to me as much."
Mulhern and the rest of the Nittany Lions will travel to Lewisburg on Saturday to compete in day one of the Bucknell Classic.