BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Penn State track & field team competed in day one of the 2023 Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Friday. In a strong day of action, the Nittany Lions stand at third place in the men's championship (20 points) and tied for seventh in the women's championship (three points).
Tyler Merkley highlighted competition on day one with his school record hammer throw. The graduate student finished with a silver medal for the second consecutive season in the men's hammer competition.
Penn State sent four track athletes to the upcoming finals in their respective events. Evan Dorenkamp and Yukichi Ishii for the men, and Maddie Ullom and Kileigh Kane for the women, qualified for Sunday's final round in the 1500-meter run.
TRACK EVENT SUMMARY
The first track event for the Nittany Lions was the men's 200-meter dash prelims. Savion Hebron clocked a wind-aided 21.65 (+2.1) on the men's side then Jermecia Brown and Lauren Princz followed with a 24.23, and a 24.71, respectively.
Dorenkamp (3:45.20 Q) and Ishii (3:46.71 Q) punched the Nittany Lions' first two tickets to Sunday's finals in the men's 1500-meter run with automatic qualifying times. Drew Maher placed 17th with a 3:47.95.
In the women's 1500-meter run, Penn State qualified both Ullom (4:17.81 Q) and Kane (4:22.85 Q) to Sunday afternoon's finals. Lea Hatcher finished 16th overall with a personal-best 4:23.17.
Sophia Toti capped off the day for the Nittany Lions with an eighth-place finish in the women's 10,000-meter run. Toti's 35:10.32 earned Penn State its final point of day one.
FIELD EVENT SUMMARY
Merkley led off the day for the Nittany Lions with his second-place finish in the men's hammer throw. His 241-8 (73.67m) effort set a Penn State school record in the event. Teammate Collin Burkhart, competing in the first of his two events today, finished fifth place with a 212-0 (64.63m) throw. The duo scored a combined 12 points for Penn State in the first event of the day.
Luke Knipe followed up with a fourth-place clearance in the men's pole vault. The Nittany Lion senior posted a season-best 17-2.25 (5.24m) to finish in the fourth spot in the conference.
In the women's hammer throw, Jean Starr put points on the board for Penn State with a seventh-place finish thanks to a 192-2 (58.57m) throw.
Collin Burkhart and Kevin Bartosh finished seventh and eighth, respectively, as the Nittany Lions continued to score points in the field events. Burkhart's best throw traveled 220-10 (67.31m) and Bartosh's went 219-8 (66.96m). On the women's side, freshman Audrey Friedman, in her first Big Ten Championship meet, qualified for the finals and finished ninth with a 146-10 (44.77m) throw.
MULTI-EVENT STANDINGS
Penn State's pair of multi-event athletes, Chloe Royce and Maddie Pitts, began competition in the heptathlon this afternoon as well. Through four events, Pitts, a true freshman, is second overall with 3,297 points with teammate Chloe Royce is sixth with 3,169 points. Pitts finished top-five in three of four events this afternoon and set personal-best marks in all four events.
Pitts – 3,297 pts, 2nd overall
- 100H PR (14.04, 2nd)
- High jump PR (5-3.75, 1.62m, 9th)
- Shot put PR (39-2.25, 11.94m, 5th),
- 200m PR (24.35, 2nd)
Royce – 3,169 pts, 6th overall
- 100H PR (14.32, 8th)
- High Jump (5-5, 1.65m, 5th)
- Shot Put (33-8.5, 10.27m, 10th)
- 200m SB (25.41, 6th)
UP NEXT
Penn State will get things started at 12:15 p.m. tomorrow afternoon for day two of the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Follow along with the team on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateTFXC) and Twitter/Instagram (@pennstatetfxc).