GENEVA, Ohio - The Penn State track & field team kicked off competition with a strong performance in the first day of the Big Ten Track & Field Championships the SPIRE Institute.
The Nittany Lions claimed five medals, including one gold, in the meet's first day, with 11 Nittany Lions advancing to final events on Saturday. The Penn State women ended the first day in first place with a team score of 34.
In a career-best performance, Chloe Royce claimed gold in the women's pentathlon with a score of 4080. The junior transfer set personal bests in the 60m (8.55), high jump (1.70m), shot put (10.66m) and 800m (2:15.21) to claim her first Big Ten Championship.
For the second week in a row, junior Luke Knipe set the Penn State program record in the pole vault. Knipe's 5.40m (17-8.5) vault earned the Penn State men their first medal of 2022. Penn State women's program recordholder Katie Jones claimed the silver medal in the women's pole vault, posting a top mark of 4.22m (13-10). Teammate Hailey Zurich also posted a 4.22m to score as a fourth place finisher.
The Penn State women claimed bronze in the women's DMR, with the team of Victoria Tachinski, Rachel Gearing, Madaline Ullom and Allison Johnson placing third with a time of 11:08.15. The men's DMR team of Kevin Haas, Korbin Martino, Domenic Perretta and Brandon Hontz placed fourth with a time of 9:39.93.
Also claiming a bronze medal was Breana Gambrell, who recorded a season-best 6.24m (20-5.75) in the long jump to place third in the event.
Several Nittany Lions qualified for Saturday's finals on the track. The women's 800m group continued their dominant 2022, as five of the eight spots in the finals will be filled by Nittany Lions. The group of Victoria Vanriele, Rachel Gearing, Victoria Tachinski, Allison Johnson and Madeline Ullom all advanced. In the men's 800m, freshman Olivier Desmeules posted the preliminary round's top time of 1:49.95 to advance to the finals.
Nittany Lions advanced in both the men's and women's mile, with Evan Dorenkamp and Makenna Krebs advancing.
Ka'mere Day recorded a personal best 6.73 in the men's 60m dash to advance to the finals. In the women's 60h, Yasmin Brooks added to her strong season by posting a time of 8.24 to advance. Antoinette Bradley advanced in the women's 600m, recording a time of 1:31.52.
Day two is set to begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Fans can follow along on Big Ten Plus.
Full Results: https://live.deltatiming.com/meets/12634/events/424644/resultshttps://live.deltatiming.com/meets/12634/events/424644/results
