NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It was a weekend to remember for the Penn State track & field team, as the team followed up a record-breaking Friday with another day of program records and personal bests on Saturday at the Music City Challenge.
"A very exciting day for Penn State Track and Field," Head Coach John Gondak said. "It was our first visit to Vanderbilt and both of our teams really took advantage of it! This was our last major weekend before the post season and we should take a lot of confidence from what we did this past weekend. Big props to the team for showing out this weekend."
The highlight of the day came in the women's 800m run, where four Nittany Lions recorded times that rank in the top five in program history. Leading the way was freshman Allison Johnson, who set the program record of 2:02.84, the top time in the NCAA this season. Johnson is off to a historic start to her Penn State career, becoming the first freshman in Big Ten history to claim the conference's Athlete of the Week award three times. Victoria Tachinski also improved her ranking on the program's top five list, posting Penn State's third best time ever with a 2:03.83, ranking sixth in the NCAA this season. Also posting sub-2:05 times were Rachel Gearing (2:04.22) and Victoria Vanriele (2:04.96). The previous Penn State record of 2:02.94 was set by Danae Rivers in 2019.
Yasmin Brooks had her strongest day of her career on Saturday, beating her previous personal best in the 60-meter hurdles on three different occasions, posting a new PR of 8.20 to win the 60h final. The time ranks third in program history.
Also rising up the program's all-time list was Hailey Zurich, who won the pole vault with a top mark of 4.23m (13-10.5). The vault ranks second in program history behind Katie Jones' 4.27m (14-0) vault earlier this season. Jones also posted a top vault of 4.23m on Saturday, as Penn State took the top two spots in the event.
The Penn State men also recorded several personal bests on the track, including Ka'Mere Day who placed second in the 60m dash with a time of 6.76. Freshman James Onwuka improved his top time in the 400m run with a time of 47.59. Fellow freshman Olivier Desmeules continues to impress, as he posted the team's first sub-1:49 time in the 800m this season with a personal best 1:48.27.
The Nittany Lions will return home next weekend to host the Penn State Tune Up on Feb. 18
Full Results: https://live.pttiming.com/?mid=4850
Click HERE for Friday's recap.
