May 26, 2018
TAMPA, Fla. - Sophomores Michael Biddle (Williamsburg, Pa.) and Danae Rivers (Derby, Conn.) along with the men's 4x100-meter relay advanced to the NCAA Championships on the final day of the NCAA East Preliminary Round Saturday at the USF Track & Field Stadium.
"It was a challenging weekend down here in Tampa dealing with schedule changes and weather issues all weekend long," head coach John Gondak said. "But, I am really proud of the Nittany Lions that competed this weekend. We came down and had 36 athletes compete and 12 move on to Eugene, it is a pretty good percentage when you think about the caliber of this meet and the caliber of advancement and what it takes to move on to the NCAA Championships, the best of the best in track & field. We positioned ourselves well to have an exciting week in Eugene - the first week of June and I am really looking forward to that.
"I am very thankful to the senior athletes whose careers were finished this weekend at the regional meet and I am proud of all that they have done and contributed over the years to Penn State track & field," Gondak added. "This is always a meet that you can always learn from especially if it is when you are young, a freshman or your first time here, the experience you gain just makes you that much better of a competitor the second time that you come back. Obviously, our anticipation is that if you were here this year that you will be back next year. Those athletes should be much more experienced and know what this competition is like and be able to manage the competition and get a great result from it."
The day started for Penn State with the men's 4x100-meter relay capturing the 12th, and final, spot to make the trip to Eugene from the East Region.
With three heats of six teams running, the top-three finishers from each heat automatically qualify plus the next three best times to round out the field of 12 teams from the East Region.
In the first heat, the Penn State men's 4x100-meter relay of Will Henderson (Baltimore, Md.), Anton Porter (Bronx, N.Y.), Xavier Smith (Douglassville, Pa.), and Malik Moffett (Erie, Pa.) finished fourth, and missed out on one of three automatic spots in the first heat, with their time of 39.61. Now the Nittany Lions had to wait and see if they would make it in based on their time.
The second heat saw the top-three teams run 39.36-or-better and the fourth-place team, Bethune-Cookman, ran 39.64, which kept the Nittany Lions in the hunt with one heat remaining.
The gun then went off for the third, and final, heat and one-by-one the teams crossed the finish line with the Nittany Lion quartet focused on the results appearing on the videoboard. The first three teams were shown, 39.02 - Southern Miss., 39.21 - North Carolina A&T, and 39.29 - Georgia.
The Nittany Lions continued to wait with focus on the videoboard, though only for just minutes, it felt like a lifetime due to the pending outcome.
39.34 - Northwestern State.
The wait continues.
39.47 - Purdue.
Now one spot separates the PSU men's 4x100-meter relay and a trip to the West Coast.
39.62 - Mississippi State.
With the results shown, Smith, a senior, shows a sigh of relief, while Henderson, a freshman, runs around in excitement - either way, the men's 4x100-meter relay is off to compete in Eugene by one-hundredth of a second.
In the men's javelin throw, Biddle clinched his spot to Eugene with the ninth-best mark of the field. Biddle recorded a distance of 208-6 to move on to the next round at the NCAA Championships.
Rivers locked up her spot to Tracktown with a second-place finish in the second heat of the women's 1,500-meter run. Rivers ran the second-fastest 1,500-meter run time of her Nittany Lion career (4:11.75) to clinch an automatic berth to Eugene. Her time of 4:11.75 only trails her school-record time of 4:10.82 set earlier this year in her outdoor season-opener at the Florida Relays (March 30).
Though he didn't qualify to Eugene in the men's 200-meter dash, Smith clocked in at a wind-legal personal-best time of 20.68 in wet conditions on the track to finish sixth in the second heat and he tied for 17th overall. Smith's time Saturday improves his No. 7 spot in school history.
Senior Jon Yohman (New Wilmington, Pa.) closed out his Nittany Lion career with a 20th-place finish in the men's shot put with his toss of 59-11.75. Yohman concludes his time as a Penn Stater with the No. 6 distance in the outdoor shot put at Penn State (62-9.25).
Penn State finished out the meet in the men's 5,000-meter run. The Nittany Lions were led in the race by Timothy McGowan (Northport, N.Y.) running 14:07.32 to finish eighth, in the first heat and, overall. With the men's 5,000-meter run split into two heats, the top-five finishers from each heat and the two next best times moved on to Eugene.
The 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships take place at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, June 6-9.