JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Penn State track & field team track & field team closed out competition at the Big Ten Florida Invite at the University of North Florida on Saturday.
"It was exciting to see over 50 Penn State athletes compete these last two days in challenging conditions," Head Coach John Gondak said. "We won events, had personal bests and competed well against all of the other Big Ten teams here in Jacksonville. This meet allowed us to see where we stand against our competition at this point in the season and figure out what we need to work on as we prepare for championship time."
It was another strong day on the track for the Penn State women, as they produced several quality performances throughout the afternoon. Yasmin Brooks and Ekaterina Hupalo followed their strong Friday races in the 100-meter hurdles by posting PRs in the 100h final on Saturday. Brooks placed third with a 13.54 and Hupalo placed fifth with a 14.02.
After winning the 1500m run on Friday, Danae Rivers placed second in the women's 800 with a 2:05.53. Teammate Victoria Tachinski finished sixth in the race with a time of 2:08.20. Penn State also had success in the 4x400 relay invite, as the team of Amariah Thomas, Yasmin Brooks, Victoria Tachinski and Antoinette Bradley placed fifth.
Katie Jones highlighted the field events, recording a 4.10m to win the pole vault. The vault was .02 off her own Penn State program record of 4.12m. Freshman Hailey Zurich placed fourth in the event with a 4.00m. On the men's side, Luke Knipe tied for third in the pole vault with an outdoor personal best mark of 5.11m.
The men also found success on Saturday on both the track and in field competition. In the men's 3000m run, junior Brandon Hontz recorded an 8:21.94 to place third. Big Ten Indoor 60h champion Sincere Rhea had a strong day in the men's 100-meter hurdles, placing fourth with a personal best time of 13.92.
After a big day from the Penn State throwers on Friday, the team continued its big start to the season on Saturday. Tom Bojalad got the day started with a second place finish in the men's discus, recording a throw of 51.04m (167-05). Competing for the first time since the 2018 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, former indoor weight throw national champion David Lucas placed fifth in the discus throw invite with a throw of 54.18m (179-08).
Nittany Lions placed second and third in the men's javelin as Mark Porter recorded a toss of 66.43m and Chris Fredericks posted a personal best throw 65.56m.
Penn State will head to another Big Ten Invite next weekend as they will have a split squad weekend with travel to the Big Ten Indiana Invite in Bloomsburg, Ind., as well as the Big Ten Tri-Meet at Rutgers. Competition at Indiana begins on April 9, while Rutgers starts April 10.