CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Penn State track & field team closed out the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday at the University of Illinois.
The Nittany Lions set 11 personal records on the day in a strong showing on the final day of competition.
Yasmin Brooks recorded two of those PRs, winning silver in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.15, and placing fourth in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a 58.69 time less than an hour later. Teammate Antoinette Bradley claimed bronze in the 400-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 57.48.
For the second consecutive meet, Hailey Zurich and Katie Jones recorded matching program records in the pole vault with each recording vaults of 4.15m (13-7.25). The women's high jumpers also found success, with Carlie Wilson (1.76m, 5-9.25), Cecelia Bacon (1.73m, 5-8) and Kathleen Gallagher (1.70m, 5-7) each posting personal bests.
Madison Smith continued her impressive season for Penn State, recording a career best throw of 53.03m (173-11) on her final attempt of the meet to win the silver medal in the women's javelin. Ryann Brundage also scored for the Nittany Lions in the event, setting a PR with a throw of 43.26m (141-11)
On the men's side, Evan Dorenkamp placed fourth on two different occasions, first in the men's 1500-meter run with a time of 3:52.75 and then just an hour later in the men's 800-meter run with a time of 1:49.62.
Lance Hamilton was one of two Penn State men to set a PR on the day, placing fifth in the long jump with a mark of 15.30m (50-2.5). Also setting a new collegiate best was Ben Peterson, who scored in the shot put with a throw of 18.42m (60-5.25).
Six Nittany Lions were named as All-Big Ten honorees after the meet. Maddie Holmberg, David Lucas and Mark Porter were named All-Big Ten First Team, while Yasmin Brooks, Tyler Merkley and Madison Smith were named Second Team All-Big Ten.
Penn State now awaits the results from conference championships around the country to see which athletes rank in the top-48 in the East Region to advance to the NCAA East Preliminary Championships in Jacksonville, Fla.
FROM THE SOURCE: Head Coach John Gondak
"Penn State Track and Field came to play this weekend. The coaching staff was so proud of how we competed over the three days. Illinois hosted a great championship and our student-athletes took advantage of their opportunities. We scored about 15-20 more points on both genders than we hoped to score on paper and we had a significant number of personal bests over the weekend, so the team was excited. We are going to take this experience and move forward to the NCAA First Round and work to qualify athletes to the finals in Eugene."
DAY THREE RESULTS: https://live.pttiming.com/?mid=2253