Rivers, McDevitt and Lester Win B1G Titles on Final Day of Indoor ChampionshipRivers, McDevitt and Lester Win B1G Titles on Final Day of Indoor Championship

Rivers, McDevitt and Lester Win B1G Titles on Final Day of Indoor Championship

Opens in a new window Final Results

GENEVA, Ohio - The Nittany Lions track & field program won four individual Big Ten titles during the second day of competition at the SPIRE Institute on Saturday, Feb. 29. Senior captain Danae Rivers won a pair of Big Ten titles in the 800m and mile events to cap her Big Ten Indoor Championships career.

Rivers made history by becoming the first women's student-athlete in the Big Ten to win four consecutive 800m titles. Rivers captured her fourth title in the event by running 2:06.27. Rivers pulled away from the field on the back stretch to claim her championship. Earlier in the day, Rivers won the mile title with a time of 4:43.35. Rivers consistent pace allowed her to remain in the front of the pack before she pulled away and won the race by nearly a second.

Rivers finished her career with six Big Ten indoor titles with her four 800m titles, one mile championship and one in the DMR.

Running in his final Big Ten Indoor Championship, senior captain Billy McDevitt continued the Nittany Lions dominance in the men's 800m race. McDevitt qualified for the final by running 1:52.17 in Friday's qualifying. McDevitt followed up his qualifying time with a personal-best mark of 1:48.78 to win the men's 800m race. It was the fifth consecutive title for the Nittany Lions in the men's 800m and 11th in the last 13 years.

Penn State has won the last eight 800m Big Ten indoor titles between the men's and the women's 800m events.

Kiara Lester won the first Big Ten individual title of her career when she ran a personal-best mark of 53.37 in the first heat of the 400m final. Lester was a finalist for the second time in the 400m event as she finished fourth in the 400m in 2019.

Lester's time on the podium was not finished as she and the women's 4x400m relay team placed second in the event with a season-best time of 3:37.69. The Nittany Lions relay team of Lester, Victoria Tachinski, Amariah Thomas and Antoinette Bradley won the third heat of the event and finished just .01 behind the first-place finishers.

Bradley added to her medal count as she finished third in the women's 600m final. Bradley's personal-best time of 1:29.75 gave her the third-place finish and the first individual medal of her Nittany Lion career.

Competing in his first Big Ten Indoor Championship, freshman Sincere Rhea collected his first Big Ten medal with a third-place finish in the 60m hurdles. Rhea ran 7.82 in the hurdle finals to win the bronze.

Rhea and the 4x400m relay team of Savion Hebron, Rhea, Gary Ross and Rick Zink also climbed the podium with a seventh-place finish and a time of 3:11.92.

The opening competition of the day saw Alexa Parks finish in a tie for fourth in the women's high jump, collecting 4.5 points for the Nittany Lions. Senior Katie Munks picked up her second fifth-place finish of the weekend with a personal-best mark of 16:20.31 in the women's 5000m.

Will Henderson ran to a fourth-place finish in the men's 60m dash with a time of 6.70 and Gary Ross placed sixth in the men's 600m with his time of 1:18.38.

The women's program finished in third with a final team score of 87.5 points and the men's team placed ninth with 37 points.

In total, five Nittany Lions earned first team All-Big Ten honors and three earned second-team honors.

Penn State will await the announcement of student-athletes who have been selected to participate in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships March 14-15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.