BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Penn State track & field team concluded the Big Championships with both the men's and women's groups placing inside the top six in the conference.
The women finished their weekend in fifth place with 63 team points, highlighted by Faith DeMars' incredible championship-winning run in the 5,000-meters. Her outdoor win is the first time a Nittany Lion woman has ever won the 5,000-meters at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships and it is the first outdoor title in the event by any Nittany Lion since Bob Hamer in 1994. Michigan took the overall championship on the women's side followed by Ohio State, and Nebraska.
Penn State's men's squad came in sixth overall with 54 team points, the group's best standing at the Big Ten outdoor meet since 2018. Nebraska's men finished in the top spot with Minnesota and Iowa rounding out the top three.
PENN STATE'S POINT-SCORERS
The Nittany Lion women received scoring all over the board on Sunday. The 4x100-meter relay squad got on the board with three points, followed by Maddie Ullom's bronze medal finish in the 1500. Mallory Kauffman posted her second point-scoring effort of the weekend in the women's discus, and Carlie Wilson picked up a pair in the women's high jump. Rachel Gearing, Hayley Kitching, and Allison Johnson earned 19 total points in the 800, DeMars and Sophia Toti collected 12 total in the 5K, and the 4x400 snagged one point at the end of the day for the women's group.
For the men, Evan Dorenkamp and Yukichi Ishii combined for ten points in the men's 1500 to start things off on the track. Handal Roban, Darius Smallwood, and Callum Dodds combined for 12 in the men's 800, and the 4x400 finished the day scoring six points.
TRACK EVENT SUMMARY
In the Nittany Lions' first track event of the day, the Nittany Lions' group of Zoey Goldstein, Maddie Pitts, Jane Madson, and Lauren Princz posted a Penn State season-best 45.50 in the 4x100-meter relay. Including each event of the heptathlon plus the long jump, this race marked Pitts' ninth event of the weekend.
Following the opening relay, Dorenkamp finished with the silver medal in the men's 1500 with a 3:43.06. Dorenkamp's final kick pushed him over the line in second place. Ishii finished just under three seconds behind Dorenkamp in seventh place, going 3:45.87. Ullom took home a bronze medal in the women's 1500, running 4:21.58 for third place.
In the men's 800-meter finals, Roban crossed the line in third with a 1:47.59 with teammate Smallwood right behind in fourth, clocking a 1:47.87. Dodds ran a 1:50.07 for eighth place to round out the trio. Roban's bronze is his second Big Ten 800-meter medal this season, as he came in second in the event at the indoor championship meet in February.
For the women, Gearing, Kitching, and Johnson went 2-3-4 in the 800-meter final. Gearing clocked a 2:06.28 with Kitching at 2:06.40 and Johnson at 2:07.04. Both Gearing and Kitching double-medaled in the event in 2023 with the pair earning first and second at the Big Ten Indoor Championships earlier this year.
DeMars' incredible kick gave her the women's 5,000-meter run title at 16:11.81 with Toti placing seventh in 16:18.72. DeMars swept the Big Ten 5,000-meters in 2023 as she successfully defended her indoor championship in the event.
Both the men's and women's 4x400 squads placed in the top eight for the Nittany Lions to close out the competition. Austin Gallant, Savion Hebron, Carter Fitzgerald, and Olivier Desmeules ran 3:06.91 to claim third place for the men's group. In the final event of the afternoon, Zoey Goldstein, Victoria Vanriele, Rachel Gearing, and Jane Madson ran 3:42.35 for eighth place in the conference.
FIELD EVENT SUMMARY
The Nittany Lions began Sunday's competition with the men's discus throw. Duane Knisely threw a personal-best 172-2 (52.48m) for a 14th-place finish. Big Ten hammer throw runner-up Tyler Merkley went 168-5 (51.33m) for 18th place in the discus.
Hailey Zurich cleared 12-6 (3.81m) for 11th place in the conference in the women's pole vault. In the women's high jump, Carlie Wilson cleared 5-8.75 (1.75m) for a seventh-place standing, leading the Nittany Lions in the event. Cecelia Bacon went 5-7 (1.70m) for ninth.
Kauffman delivered an eighth-place finish in the women's discus throw, posting a 164-8 (50.20m) effort in her second scoring event of the weekend.
UP NEXT
Pending official qualifications, the Nittany Lions will prepare for competition at the NCAA East Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Fla. from May 24-27.
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