UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State track and field program capped its 2019 with the annual Blue-White intrasquad meet on Saturday, December 14.The White team was victorious on both the men's and women's side. On the men's side, the White team won 73-69 and the women's White team completed the sweep by winning 68-66.
The Blue-White meet was scored using international scoring rules - Two individual entries per team scored (5-3-2-1), and one relay entry per team scored (5-3) points. The intrasquad competition was scored per gender for both teams. The men's team score and women's team score were combined to determine the overall winning team.
The White team took the early advantage in the meet, winning both discus events on Friday evening. Senior David Lucas and freshman Mallory Kauffman brought a pair of wins to the White team on the first day of competition. Mark Porter won the men's javelin for the Blue team and Madison Smith won the women's competition on the first day of the Blue-White meet.
Day two of competition began with the men's and women's weight throw, men's and women's long jump and men's and women's pole vault. David Lucas and Gianna Rao swept the weight throw for the White team. The White team's winning ways continued as Maddie Holmberg (6.12m) and Will Henderson (7.47m) added to the win total for the White team with their wins in the long jump.
The teams split the pole vault competition as Katie Jones (3.85m) picked up the first win of the day for the Blue Team and Luke Knipe (4.60m) won the men's vault for the White. Ben Peterson and Payden Montana swept the shot put event for the Blue team to complete the throwing events for the meet.
In the first track event of the afternoon, sophomore Julia Paternain and senior Katie Munks finished in first and second in the 3000m, running 9:36.01 and 9:39.96 respectively while representing the Blue team. Alex Tomasko got the White team back in the win colum with his first-place finish in the men's 3000m.
Sophomore Justin Ofotan and Will Henderson battled in the men's 55m as Ofotan topped Henderson by .01 seconds, running 6.30 to give the Blue team the win. Brooke-Lynn Williams ran 6.90 for the White team to place first in the event.
Senior captain Maddie Holmberg went 2-2 on the day by bringing home a win in the 55mH. Running in his first meet, freshman Sincere Rhea won the 55mH on the men's side, running 7.54 for the Blue team. Another winning split between the teams occurred in the triple jump as Sarah Lehman (White team) and Wesley Matsuka-Williams (Blue team) placed first in the men's and women's triple jump.
The back-and-forth battle continued in the 300m race as Kiara Lester, Antoinette Bradley and Jane Madson finished one, two and three for the Blue team in the women's 300m. Freshman Savion Hebron responded by narrowly edging Sincere Rhea for the White team in the men's 300m.
Gary Ross (500m), Drew Maher and Victorai Tachinski (1000m) claimed the next three events for the Blue team as the event neared its completion.
In the final field events of the day, both Alexa Parks and David Bolles set personal-best marks in the high jump. Parks cleared 1.77m and Bolles cleared 2.05m as both participated for the White team.
The 4x400m relay races capped the annual Blue-White intrasquad as the Blue team won both races.
Penn State will host four meets during the indoor season and hosts the first meet of 2020 on January 11 with the Nittany Lion Challenge as the first meet of 2020.
For more information on Penn State track & field, visit gopsusports.com.
