GENEVA, Ohio - The Penn State track & field program travels to Geneva, Ohio and the SPIRE Institute for the Big Ten Indoor Championships Friday through Saturday, Feb. 28-29.
FOLLOW ALONG
DATES: Friday, February 28 | Saturday, February 29
PLACE: SPIRE Institute
WATCH: BTN+/FLOTRACK
LIVE RESULTS: lightingtiming.com
MEET SCHEDULE
BIG TEN MEN'S RECORD BOOK
BIG TEN WOMEN'S RECORD BOOK
2020 RECORD BOOK PERFORMANCES
2020 has seen a pair of school records be rewritten by the Nittany Lions along with numerous Nittany Lions that currently rank highly in the NCAA in their individual events.
Alexa Parks broke the women's high jump record which had stood at Penn State since 1987. Parks became the first Nittany Lion in history to clear 6-0 (1.83m), breaking the previous record of 5-11.25 (1.81m) held by Antoinette O'Carroll (1987) and Brittnany Maun (2010).
Along with Parks, junior Victoria Tachinski became the new school record holder in the 600m race, running 1:29.04 to break the previous school record of 1:29.06 held by Danae Rivers.
Other Record Book Performances
Katie Jones | T-2nd | Pole Vault | 13-8.5 (4.18m)
Tyler Merkley | 4th | M Weight Throw | 69-1.25 (21.06m)
Gianna Rao | 4th | W Weight Throw | 67-3.25 (20.50m)
Noah Swaby | 5th | Heptathlon | 5,292 points
2019 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP REWIND
The Penn State track & field program crowned three individual champions Saturday during the final day of the Big Ten Indoor Championships at the U-M Indoor Track Building.
Junior Danae Rivers captured her third consecutive Big Ten Indoor 800-meter Championship in a meet record time and junior Dom Perretta won the men's 800-meter run to highlight the Nittany Lions' performances. The Nittany Lions also captured the women's 400m crown.
The Nittany Lion men finished in seventh place with 63 points and the women's squad placed eighth with 57.5 points.
Rivers delivered her third consecutive Big Ten Indoor Championship in the 800-meter run in a meet record time of 2:03.45. Ranked third nationally in the 800, she broke the mark held by Katie Borchers (Ohio State) of 2:04.31 in 2015. Rivers is just the third woman to win three consecutive Big Ten Indoor 800 titles, joining Michigan's Geena Gall (2007-09).
Perretta won the men's 800 final with a time of 1:48.24, giving the Penn State men their fourth consecutive Big Ten Indoor title in the event and the 10th in the last 12 years. Isaiah Harris, the 2018 NCAA Outdoor 800 champion, had won the last three Big Ten men's Indoor 800 crowns.
2019 NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Last season, the Nittany Lions women's program finished at No. 11 in the final NCAA rankings following their performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Danae Rivers clocked in with a final time of 2:03.69 in the 800m and gave the Nittany Lions their first women's indoor track & field individual champion in program history.
Morgan Shigo and David Lucas both earned first team All-American distinctions by finishing fifth and eight respectively in the men's weight throw. Shigo and Lucas became the first Nitttany Lion teammates in history to earn All-America honors in the weight throw in the same season.
Maddie Holmberg added another All-American distinction to her career by finishing ninth in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The 4,227-point score was a personal-best and placed Holmberg ninth in the final standings. Her ninth-place finish gave Holmberg the distinction as a second team All-American. Holmberg was also named the Mid-Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year.
NITTANY LIONS BY THE NUMBERS
#1 - Six Nittany Lions currently are ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten in their respective events.
#4 - Senior captain Danae Rivers has won four Big Ten Indoor Championships in her career at Penn State. 3 consecutive 800m and 1 DMR.
#11 - The Nittany Lions women's program finished No. 11 at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships, second highest in the Big Ten.
#13 - Penn State has won 13 800m Big Ten titles since 2008 (10 men, 3 women) and 10 of the last 12 on the men's side.
#43 - Since 2010, the Nittany Lions have captured 43 Big Ten individual titles.
For more information on the Big Ten Indoor Championships, visit bigten.org.
