UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – For the second straight week, a new school record has been set at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. Junior Victoria Tachinski set the new program standard by running 1:29.04 in the 600m race on Saturday.
Tachinski ran her personal-best time to place second in the women's 600m race. Tachinski broke the previous school record that was held by her teammate Danae Rivers. River established the school-record mark of 1:29.06 in 2017.
The Penn State throwers won three of the four events on Saturday with a clean sweep in the weight throw and claimed the men's shot put title.
Gianna Rao won her second weight throw event of the 2020 season with her personal-best mark of 67-3.25 (20.50m). Rao's personal-best toss came on her fifth throw of the event to claim the weight throw title. Senior David Lucas won his second weight throw event of the 2020 season as well by throwing 68-5.25 (20.86m) on senior day.
Senior captain Billy McDevitt also claimed a victory on senior day by winning the men's 800m race. McDevitt ran 1:49.91 to set a personal-best in the 800m. McDevitt came from behind on the final straightway to grab the win.
Ben Peterson continued his strong 2020 indoor season by winning another shot put title on Saturday. Peterson threw 58-4.75 (17.80m) on his third throw of event to win the shot put crown.
More success for the field events came from Breana Gambrell in the women's long jump. Gambrell won the long jump for her fourth win overall of the 2019-20 indoor season and second in the long jump. Gambrell jumped 20-1.75 (6.14m) to lead the Nittany Lions. Penn State had four of the top eight finishers in the long jump event on Saturday.
The Penn State record book saw more changes in the women's pole vault as Katie Jones moved into a tie for second place all-time by clearing 13-8.5 (4.18m) in her win of the event on Saturday. Jones was joined on the podium by freshman Erica Ellis. Ellis placed third with a collegiate-best mark of 13-4.5 (4.08m).
Another winning effort for the Nittany Lions came behind a personal-best run of 4:08.99 by Evan Dorenkamp in the men's mile. Dorenkamp was followed closely by teammate Isaiah Claiborne who finished second with his time of 4:09.46.
Amariah Thomas had a strong showing in both the 60m dash and the 200m dash during Saturday's competition. Thomas won the 60m dash by running a season-best time of 7.52 in the finals. Thomas also set a collegiate-best mark of 24.29 to finish second in the 200m final.
Ekaterina Hupalo tallied a personal-best mark during Saturday's 60m hurdles. Hupalo previous personal-best mark was 8.66, a mark she set last week at the Penn State National Open. Hupalo's first race of the day in the 60m hurdles prelims saw her run 8.63 to tally her new personal-best. Shortly after, Hupalo ran her fastest time to date with an 8.57 to finish third in the event.
The men's 3000m race saw Chris Hughes place second and set a new personal-best mark of 8:23.68 in the distance race.
Along with competition at the Nittany Lions home track, four Nittany Lions competed at the 2020 Millrose Games at the Armory in New York. Current Nittany Lion Danae Rivers ran 4:32.95 while competing in the Wanamaker Women's Mile. Three former Nittany Lions were also on display at the Millrose Games. Volunteer assistant coach Isaiah Harris ran an indoor personal-best time of 1:46.01 to finish third in the Presbyterian Men's 800m race. Harris was followed by former Nittany Lion Brannon Kidder who tied his personal-best indoor mark by running 1:47.01 to place fourth in the 800m. The final former Nittany Lion to compete at the Millrose Games was IAAF World Champion Joe Kovacs. Kovcas best toss of 70-0.25 (21.34m) to place second in the shot put event.
The Nittany Lions will compete at three locations next week. These include the Husky Classic, Tiger Paw Invite and Iowa State Classic.