IOWA CITY, Iowa – Freshman Noah Swaby put the Nittany Lions back on medal stand with a third-place finish in the decathlon on Saturday. Swaby's performance is good for eighth all-time at Penn State in the decathlon. The Nittany Lions wrap up competition at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships on Sunday, May 12.
Recap
Despite a changing schedule due to weather, Noah Swaby turned in a career-best performance for the Nittany Lions in the decathlon. Swaby set his fourth personal-best mark in the pole vault event, clearing (4.30m). Swaby set three personal-best marks on Friday's portion of the decathlon.
Swaby continued to impress during Saturday's competition by winning both the javelin and 1500m race. Swaby threw 59.41m in the javelin and ran 4:35.47 in the 1500m race, both personal-bests. In total, Swaby set six personal-best marks and finished third in the decathlon with 7,411 points.
Following up her performance in the 200m dash, Alexis Holmes secured another spot in the finals in the women's 400m. Holmes won her heat in a time of 53.10 to advance to Sunday's final. Joining Holmes in the 400m final is Kiara Lester, who ran 54.28. The Nittany Lions have two of the three fastest times headed into Sunday's final.
Justin Ofotan was another Nittany Lion to qualify for the finals on Sunday in the men's 100m dash. Ofotan ran a collegiate-best 10.44 and was the third-fastest qualifying time in the 100m dash.
A pair Nittany Lions qualified for the women's 800m final with their performances on Saturday. 2017 Big Ten 800m champion Danae Rivers and Victoria Tachinski each qualified for the 800m final.
Continuing the success in the 800m, Domenic Perretta also qualified for Sunday's final by winning his heat in the qualifying trials. Perretta ran 1:50.03 to win the third heat of Saturday's trials.
Senior Devin Bradham tied a personal-best mark of 7-1.5 (2.17m) in the finals of the men's high jump. Bradham cleared each of his marks on the first attempt to tie his career best. Bradham finished fifth in the event.
Ben Peterson (men's shot put) and Breana Gambrell (women's long jump) also both appeared in the finals of their respective events to round out competition for the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions will have competitors in each of the following events on the final day of competition:
Women's Discus
Women's High Jump
Men's & Women's 4x100 Relays
Men's 1500m Final
Women's 1500m Final
Women's Triple Jump
Men's Discus
Women's 400m Final
Men's 100m Dash
Men's 800m Final
Women's 800m Final
Women's 200m Final
Men's 5000m Final
Women's 5000m Final
Men's & Women's 4x400m Relays
For more information on Penn State track & field, visit gopsusports.com.
