CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Led by Mallory Kauffman's dominant shot-put performance, the Penn State track and field teams concluded their strong three-day meet weekend at the Virginia Challenge with three more top-10 marks in program history and a handful of new personal-best performances.
The Nittany Lions finish the weekend with 10 total new top-10 marks in program history and four event victories.
Kauffman once again moved herself up the Nittany Lion rankings after putting up the second-best mark in program history in women's shot put on her final throw of the day. Her mark of 17.11m (56-1.75) is now just 0.04m behind Rachel Fatherly's program record set in 2015.
Kicking off the competition on the field, Cecelia Bacon finished second in the women's high jump invite after jumping a distance of 1.76m (5-9.25).
Breana Gambrell finished with a new personal-best jump in the women's triple jump. Her mark of 12.78m (41-11.25) officially ranks as the eighth-best in program history. On her final jump of the day, Gambrell jumped a wind-assisted (+2.4) mark of 12.83m (42-1.25) to earn a new season best.
Lance Hamilton lept to a fifth-place finish in men's triple jump with a best mark of 15.43m (50-7.5).
Duane Knisley reached a personal-best mark of 17.16m (56-3.75) in the men's shot put.
Kate Willshaw won the women's high jump with a mark of 1.69m (5-6.5).
Chloe Royce finished her second heptathlon of the season with a new personal-best point total of 5,128 to place in third, which improved upon her eighth all-time standing in the event in program history. The junior scored 810 points in the long jump, 314 in the javelin throw and 831 in the 800m.
On the track, Yasmin Brooks began the day with a first-place finish in the women's 100m hurdles, running a winning time of 13.38 seconds. Brooks had a third-place finish in the women's 400m hurdles by clocking a time of 59.68.
Junior Godwin Kabanda finished with a season-best time of 54.03 seconds in the men's 400m hurdles to finish in ninth place.
The duo of Jermecia Brown and Jane Madson both clocked season-best times in the women's 200m sprint, running almost identical wind-assisted times of 24.332 (+2.3) and 24.337 (+2.3), respectively. Freshman Lauren Princz continued her consistent improvement by finishing with a new personal-best time of 24.72.
Sophomore Ka'mere Day led the way in the men's race with a 21.08 to place in eighth.
Victoria Tachinski led the Nittany Lions in the women's 800m, finishing third with a time of 2:04.36. Junior Rachel Gearing finished with a new outdoor-best time of 2:06.93.
Olivier Desmeules clocked a new outdoor personal record of 1:48.85 in the men's 800m to finish in fifth place.
The Nittany Lions women's 4x100m relay finished third with season-best time of 45.66.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will make their official return to the Penn Relays for the first time since 2019 next weekend in Philadelphia. The trip will be the last away meet of the regular season.
