UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State track and field teams concluded the regular season at home Friday at the Jim Thorpe Invitational and saw a dominant Rachel Gearing performance and multiple departing seniors take home top-place finishes on Senior Day presented by the Penn State Alumni Association.
Due to the incoming weather on the weekend, the invitational 800's were shifted to Thursday evening. Rachel Gearing clocked a new personal-best time 2:03.08 in the women's 800, which ranks as the second-fastest time in program history as well as the-seventh fastest in the NCAA this season.
Freshman Yukichi Ishii ran a time of 1:49.48 to lead the men's race, which ranks as the 12th-fastest time in the Big Ten this season.
In the men's 400-meter dash, freshman Korbin Martino clocked a time of 46.73, barely missing out on his outdoor personal-record time. Fellow freshman James Onwuka finished in second with a time of 47.65, which set a new outdoor personal best. Savion Hebron rounded out the top three with a new personal-best time of 47.77.
Luke Knipe won the men's pole vault after clearing a height of 5.20m (17-0.75). Departing graduate student Nicholas Marino finished in second with a mark of 5.00 (16-4.75), setting a new season best. Freshman Jonathan Peterson rounded out another sweep with a new personal-record mark of 4.85m (15-11).
On the women's side, Hailey Zurich finished first in the pole vault with a new season-best mark of 4.09m (13-5). Senior Katie Jones saw a second-place finish in her final regular-season meet as a Nittany Lion.
Fellow graduating senior Gianna Rao won the women's hammer throw with a distance of 57.55m (188-9). In the men's event, Penn Relays hammer throw Champion Tyler Merkley finished second with a distance of 68.90m (226-0).
The meet also saw other graduating seniors take home top-place finishes. Cecelia Bacon and Alexa Parks placed 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 took second place in men's discus. On the track, Hudson Delisle won the men's 1500 meter.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will travel out to Minneapolis next week to compete in the Big Ten Championship meet from Friday to Sunday.
