GENEVA, Ohio - The Penn State Nittany Lions brought home a pair of Big Ten titles during the first day of competition at the SPIRE Institute at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Friday, Feb. 28. Senior Maddie Holmberg won the pentathlon title and Katie Jones captured the pole vault championship.
@B1G Track & Field Championships with Conference Commissioner @KevinWarren and @PennStateTFXC conference champions @MaddieHolmberg and @KatieJones. #WeAre #PennState pic.twitter.com/5IVNSlLgss
— Charmelle Green (@charmelle44) February 28, 2020
Along with winning the pole vault championship, Katie Jones also set a new school record in the event. Jones cleared the new Penn State record height of 13-11.25 (4.25m) to win the Nittany Lions second pole vault title in program history. The last Nittany Lion to win the pole vault title was Sara Dougherty in 2004. Sophomore Carena Nottoli joined Jones on the podium as she placed eighth with her clearance of 12-11.5 (3.95m).
Women's Pole Vault | 🥇
— Penn State Track & Field/Cross Country (@PennStateTFXC) February 28, 2020
Katie Jones wins the Big Ten title in the women's pole vault and breaks the school record by clearing 13-11.25 (4.25m)!!!#WeAre #PSUTF pic.twitter.com/8y6PctY8pz
Shortly after Jones won her Big Ten title, senior captain Maddie Holmberg won the first Big Ten title of her tremendous Nittany Lion career. Holmberg won Penn State's second Big Ten title in the pentathlon in program history with a new personal-best mark of 4,274 points.
Pentathlon | 🥇
— Penn State Track & Field/Cross Country (@PennStateTFXC) February 28, 2020
Maddie Holmberg (@maddieholmberg) wins the second pentathlon Big Ten title in program history with a personal-best score of 4,274 points!!!#WeAre #AllIn pic.twitter.com/yVaWljQ5yg
Holmberg's afternoon was not finished as she also scored points for the Nittany Lions by placing fourth in the women's long jump event. Holmberg jumped 19-5.25 (5.92m) to place fourth. Holmberg was joined by Breana Gambrell who also scored for the Nittany Lions with a seventh-place finish with a top jump of 19-2.5 (5.85m).
Katie Munks continued the scoring for Penn State by placing fifth in the women's 3000m, earning four points with her run of 9:33.44.
In the men's weight throw, David Lucas and Tyler Merkley scored for the Nittany Lions. Lucas placed fourth with a throw of 71-11.75 (21.94m) and Merkley finished seventh with a top distance of 68-9.25 (20.96m).The men's DMR team of Owen Wing, Gary Ross, William Ashenfelter and Evan Dorenkamp rounded out the scoring for the men's team with a time of 9:46.23.
Numerous Nittany Lions qualified for finals in each of their respective events.
Brooke-Lynn Williams qualified for the women's 60m dash finals, running 7.48. Kiara Lester will run in the 400m finals after qualifying with a time of 54.56. Sophomore Antoinette Bradley qualified for the women's 600m final with a personal-best time of 1:30.70 in her heat of qualifying.
Four-time Big Ten indoor champion Danae Rivers qualified in both the women's 800m and mile events. Rivers ran 2:08.09 to win her heat in the 800m race and ran 4:49.39 also winning her heat of the mile.
The men's middle-distance squad qualified for the finals in several events. Gary Ross ran 1:18.21 to qualify for the men's 600m race. Senior Captain Billy McDevitt also qualified for the men's 800m final with a run of 1:52.17.
Sophomore Drew Maher ran a time of 4:08.44 to qualify for the men's mile final and freshman Sincere Rhea qualified in the men's 60m hurdles, running 7.76. Will Henderson moved on to the 60m dash finals with his qualifying time of 6.77.
The Nittany Lions are back in action tomorrow morning for the final day of competition at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.
For more information on the championships, visit bigten.org.