UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State track & field team returns home to Happy Valley on Friday to host the Penn State Tune Up. The meet can be streamed live on Big Ten Plus beginning at 3 p.m.
LIVE STREAM | LIVE RESULTS | MEET SCHEDULE
COMPETING TEAMS
Army West Point, Carnegie Mellon, Delaware Valley, Lock Haven, Messiah, Moravian, Pittsburgh, PSU-Fayette, Towson, UMBC, West Virginia, Widener
LAST TIME OUT
The Nittany Lions are coming off a historic weekend at the Music City Challenge in Nashville, Tenn.
The biggest highlight of the meet came in the women's 800m run on Saturday, 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 second best 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.
On Friday, Evan Dorenkamp smashed the Penn State mile record by over two seconds on Friday, posting a time of 3:55.02. The previous record of 3:57.11 was set by Robby Creese in 2011. Dorenkamp's time ranks second in the Big Ten this season and seventh in the NCAA this season. Teammate Brandon Hontz also had a strong showing in the race, posting a personal best 4:02.00. Eric Hamel added a personal best in the final event of the day, recording a 14:11.17 in the 5000-meter run.
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. Brooks and teammate Jane Madson also set personal bests in the 200m on Friday, recording times of 24.53 and 24.58, respectively. Faith Demars (16:12.57) and Allison Willingmyre (16:24.75) closed out the evening with personal records in the 5000m.
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.
Tyler Merkley continued his big start to 2022, setting his personal record in the weight throw for the third time this season with a toss of 21.36m (70-1). Merkley ranks third in the Big Ten in the event.
FULL INDOOR SCHEDULE
Dec. 4-5 - Bison Opener | Lewisburg, Pa. - COMPLETE
Jan. 15 - Nittany Lion Challenge | University Park, Pa. - COMPLETE
Jan. 21 -22 - Penn State National Open | University Park, Pa. - COMPLETE
Jan. 29 - Sykes Sabock Challenge | University Park, Pa. - COMPLETE
Feb. 4-5 - Armory Collegiate Challenge | New York, N.Y. - COMPLETE
Feb. 11-12 - Vanderbilt Invitational | Nashville, Tenn. - COMPLETE
Feb. 18 - Penn State Tune Up | University Park, Pa.
Feb. 18 - JDL DMR Invite | Winston Salem, N.C.
Feb. 25-26 - Big Ten Indoor Championships | Geneva, Ohio
