UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State track & field program has released its 2020 outdoor schedule for the upcoming outdoor season. The Nittany Lions travel to nine locations during the outdoor campaign before concluding the year with the Jim Thorpe Open on May 8 prior to postseason competition.
Penn State opens the outdoor season with the Victor Lopez Classic hosted by Rice University on March 27-28 in Houston, Texas.
On April 3, part of the track & field program will travel to Palo Alto, Calif. for the Stanford Invitational. The Nittany Lions also send student-athletes to Gainesville, Fla. for the Florida Relays on April 3-4.
Penn State returns to Pennsylvania for the Bucknell Classic in Lewisburg, Pa. on April 10-11. Following the Bucknell Classic, the Nittany Lions are split among three meets the weekend of April 17-18. Part of the team travels to Florida for the second time for the Tom Jones Memorial. A portion of the team travels to Charlottesville, Virginia for the Virginia Challenge. A third group of student-athletes heads to Lewisburg for the Bucknell Team Challenge on April 18.
The Nittany Lions head to the historic Penn Relays from April 23-25. Penn State travels to Lexington, Kentucky for the Kentucky Open on May 1-2 before concluding the regular season with the Jim Thorpe Open on May 8 in University Park.
Postseason competition begins at the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 15-17 in Madison, Wisconsin. The NCAA East Prelims follow 11 days later for qualifying student-athletes in Lexington, Kentucky. NCAA competition concludes at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 10-13 in Austin, Texas.
During the 2019 outdoor season, the Nittany Lions won four Big Ten individual championships. This included the 1500m and 800m Big Ten titles by returning senior Danae Rivers. Rivers won her second consecutive 1500m title and second 800m Big Ten title. Recent graduate Morgan Shigo captured the program's first hammer throw Big Ten championship in program history and was named the Big Ten Field Athlete of the Championships in 2019. Shigo also earned first team All-America status in the hammer throw. In total, 30 Nittany Lions advanced to the NCAA East Prelims in 2019.
Penn State begins indoor competition on Saturday, January 11 at the Horace Ashenfelter Indoor Track with the Nittany Lion Challenge.