UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State track & field team will host the Penn State Tune Up on Friday, Feb. 17 at the Multisport Facility and Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. The Nittany Lions will also take a select few members of their squad to Notre Dame for the Alex Wilson Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 18, to cap off the weekend of competition.
With just this weekend remaining until the Big Ten Championships in Geneva, Ohio, the Nittany Lions are looking for a strong performance heading into postseason competition.
The Nittany Lions continued to hold steady with two top-five #EventSquad marks in the most recent USTFCCCA rankings. Penn State's men's 800-meter squad of Handal Roban, Darius Smallwood, Carter Fitzgerald, and Luke Seymour slot in as the second-best 800m group in the country, trailing only Iowa State. Roban leads the pack, slotting in at 12th in the country with a 1:47.01.
Penn State's women's high jump group of Cecelia Bacon, Carlie Wilson, Gwen Cudmore, and Chloe Royce currently rank as the fifth-best high jump squad in the nation. Bacon cleared the bar at 6-0 (1.83m) earlier this season to tie the Penn State program record. The mark is currently tied for 20th in all of Division I.
THE COMPETITION
Penn State Tune-Up:
School attending (number of athletes competing): IUP (49), Penn State (47), Lock Haven (44), West Chester (38), Moravian (36), California (Pa.) (28), East Stroudsburg (24), Delaware Valley (20), Carnegie Mellon (16), Edinboro (15), West Virginia (15), Messiah (9), Lebanon Valley (2), Usuline (Ohio) (2), York (2), Allegheny (1), Unattached (43)
NITTANY LIONS IN THE RECORD BOOKS
At the Valentine Invite last Friday evening, Faith DeMars broke Penn State's indoor 3,000-meter record by nearly seven seconds. Tessa Barrett's 9:07.22 was the previous record that had stood since 2017.
Graduate student Brandon Hontz, in his sixth year with the Penn State program, broke four minutes in the mile for the first time in his career on Saturday at the Valentine Invite. His 3:59.13 was good enough to crack the top-five indoor times in school history, landing him at fifth place all-time.
Hayley Kitching, a first-semester freshman, increased her claim to the fourth-best 800-meter time in Penn State history with a 2:03.90 during competition at the Music City Challenge on Saturday afternoon.
The 800-meter races at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge saw two top-five times in program history, both set by freshmen. For the men, Roban's 1:47.01 tied Brannon Kidder for the third-best time in school history in the event. On the women's side, Kitching posted a 2:04.07, good for fourth all-time at Penn State.
Additionally, senior Callum Dodds posted a 1:02.97 in the men's 500-meter dash to claim fifth place in Penn State history.
Penn State added three marks to its indoor record books at the Penn State National Open.
The first was the women's distance medley relay effort by Kitching, Zoey Goldstein, Madaline Ullom, and Kileigh Kane. The foursome collectively ran a 11:04.43 to claim second place in school history.
In the men's 600m, Roban ran a blistering 1:16.91 to etch his name into fourth place in Penn State's indoor record books. Roban joins the likes of Nittany Lion legends Isaiah Harris and Casimir Loxsom on the distinguished list.
Penn State saw two marks crack the top-five in school history at Virginia Tech. Hailey Zurich tied her own PR with the second-best pole vault clearance in program history with a 13-10.5(4.23m) effort. On the oval, Rachel Gearing recorded the third best 600-meter time in school history with a 1:29.49.
On January 14 at the Nittany Lion Challenge, Bacon posted a 1.83m/6-0 effort in the high jump to tie Alexa Parks (2020) for the indoor record at Penn State.
Additionally, two international records fell at the Nittany Lion Challenge, both in the men's 1,000m run. Yukichi Ishii set a new Japanese national indoor record with a 2:21.99, followed by Roban's St. Vincent & the Grenadines national indoor record-breaking 2:24.08.
Tyler Merkley's 21.92m/71-11 weight throw effort at the Nittany Lion Challenge increased his claim to the third-best mark in the event in Penn State history and set a new personal best.
FULL INDOOR SCHEDULE
Dec. 2-3 – Bison Opener | Lewisburg, Pa.
Dec. 10 – Blue & White Intrasquad Scrimmage | University Park, Pa.
Jan. 14 – Nittany Lion Challenge | University Park, Pa.
Jan. 20-21 – Hokie Invitational | Blacksburg, Va.
Jan. 27-28 – Penn State National Open | University Park, Pa.
Feb. 4 – Sykes & Sabock Challenge | University Park, Pa.
Feb. 10-11 – Music City Invitational | Nashville, Tenn.
Feb. 10-11 – Valentine Invite | Boston, Mass.
Feb. 17 – Penn State Tune Up | University Park, Pa.
Feb. 18 – Alex Wilson Invite | South Bend, Ind.
Feb. 24 – Big Ten Indoor Championships | Geneva, Ohio
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Follow along with the team on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateTFXC) and Twitter/Instagram (@pennstatetfxc).
