UNIVERISTY PARK, Pa. – Four Penn State track & field student-athletes have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico March 13-14. Seniors Danae Rivers, Maddie Holmberg and David Lucas and sophomore Alexa Parks will travel to Albuquerque next week to compete in their respective events.
Danae Rivers will compete in her seventh-straight NCAA Championship between indoor and outdoor competition. The senior from Derby, Connecticut will compete in the mile event at this year's championships. Rivers recently won her fifth and sixth Big Ten indoor titles in the 800m and mile at last weekend's Big Ten Indoor Championships. Rivers made Big Ten history by becoming the first female student-athlete to win four consecutive 800m Big Ten tiles.
At last year's indoor championships, Rivers won the 800m national championship, running 2:03.69 in the final of the event. Rivers earned All-America honors in the 800m race in 2018. Rivers ran in the mile final during her freshman year in 2017, earning All-America honors by placing third.
Joining her senior captain counterpart, Maddie Holmberg will compete in her third NCAA Indoor Championships in the pentathlon event. Holmberg captured the pentathlon Big Ten title with a personal-best score of 4,274 points at last weekend's Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Holmberg earned first-team All-America status in 2018 with her seventh-place finish and second-team All-America honors in 2019 with a ninth-place finish.
Senior David Lucas returns to the NCAA Indoor Championships to compete in the weight throw for the third time in his indoor career. Lucas captured the 2018 NCAA national title in the weight throw and earned first-team All-America status in the event in 2019 alongside Morgan Shigo. The two Nittany Lion teammates made history by become the first set of teammates to earn first team All-America honors in the weight throw event in the same year. Lucas could become the first Nittany Lion in history to earn three first-team All-America honors in the weight throw.
Sophomore Alexa Parks will compete in her first NCAA Indoor Championships in the women's high jump. Parks set the Penn State school record in the event, clearing 6-0 (1.83m) earlier this year at the Penn State National Open. Parks earned a bronze medal at the Big Ten Indoor Championships in 2019.
ESPN3 will stream the championships live starting at 7:15 p.m. Eastern time March 13 and starting at 6 p.m. Eastern time March 14. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time Monday, March 16 on ESPNU.
For more information on the NCAA Indoor Championships, click here.