UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State track and field team is set for postseason action as the Nittany Lions travel out to Minneapolis for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships Friday to Sunday.
Competition is scheduled to kick off on Friday at 1 p.m. EST with the Decathlon 100 meters. Action resumes at 11 a.m. Saturday with the Decathlon 110-meter hurdles and noon Sunday with the women's triple jump.
The meet will be live streamed all weekend on Big Ten plus.
HOW TO FOLLOW/LIVE RESULTS
Championship Central- https://bigten.org/sports/2022/5/7/22otfb1gchamps.aspx
Live Results/Scoring- https://live.pttiming.com/?mid=5020
Live Stream (Field)- https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/playerpage/1362040
Live Stream (Track)- https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/playerpage/1362030
A LOOK BACK
The Nittany Lions closed out the regular season at home with the annual Jim Thorpe Invitational last Friday, May 6.
Highlighting the meet's performances was senior Rachel Gearing, who finished with the second-fastest time in program history at a 2:03.08. Her time ranks as the fastest time in the Big Ten and the seventh-fastest in the NCAA this season.
In the men's race, freshman Yukichi Ishii clocked a new personal-best time of 1:49.48.
The men's 400-meter race saw the freshman duo of Korbin Martino and James Onwuka finish with times of 46.73 and 47.65 respectively. Junior Savion Hebron clocked a new personal-best time of 47.77 to round out the event sweep.
Luke Knipe won the men's pole vault with a mark of 5.20m (17-0.75) and Hailey Zurich finished first in the pole vault with a new season-best mark of 4.09m (13-5) for the women's group.
Tyler Merkley placed second in the hammer throw after launching a throw of 68.90m (226-0).
The meet also represented Senior Day, and saw multiple departing seniors take home top-place finishes.
Senior Katie Jones had a second-place pole vault finish in her final regular-season meet as a Nittany Lion. Graduate student Nicholas Marino finished in second with a mark of 5.00 (16-4.75) in the men's, setting a new season best.
Fellow graduating senior Gianna Rao won the women's hammer throw with a distance of 57.55m (188-9).
Other senior performances saw Cecelia Bacon and Alexa Parks place first and third, respectively, in women's high jump. Madison Smith and Ryann Brundage took home the top two spots in women's javelin, while Taylor Givens won the women's long jump.
Tom Bojalad finished in second place for men's discus. On the track, Hudson Delisle won the men's 1500-meter race.
HIGH-RANKING NITTANY LIONS
Following last weekend, here are the Penn State student-athletes currently ranked among the top 25 in the nation for their respective events, via TFRRS and the USTFCCCA:
- Tyler Merkley- ranked seventh in men's hammer throw
- Rachel Gearing- ranked seventh in women's 800m
- Katie Jones- ranked 15th in women's pole vault
- Victoria Tachinski- ranked 18th in women's 800m
- Madaline Ullom- ranked 18th in women's 1500m
- Yasmin Brooks- ranked 18th in women's 100m Hurdles
- Mallory Kauffman- ranked 19th in women's shot put