ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Penn State track & field team used multiple school record-setting performances to finish second in both the men's and women's competitions at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational on Saturday.
"Today was a really fantastic day for Penn State Track and Field," said Head Coach John Gondak. "We do not normally have scored meets during the regular season and we chose to come to this meet specifically because it was scored. We challenged the [men's and women's] teams to compete for wins and points, and they did a great job of that today. We also set three school records and had a plethora of personal bests. It was a really fun day to be a part of Penn State Track and Field."
Sprinter Cheickna Traore highlighted competition on Saturday afternoon by setting Penn State school records in the men's 60-meter dash (6.63) and 200-meter dash (20.42), clocking top 20 times in the NCAA in both events. Hayley Kiching dominated the women's 600m, becoming the first Penn State woman to break 1:29 in the event with her 1:28.18 to take the event crown.
Overall, Penn State earned eight event wins combined on the afternoon. The Nittany Lion men collected 137.5 team points, finishing in second behind Michigan's 151. Penn State's women's group placed second behind Michigan (138) with 117 team points.
TRACK EVENT SUMMARY
Penn State kicked things off on the track with the short sprints and hurdles. Maddie Pitts finished with a season-best 9.01 in the 60-meter hurdle finals for the Nittany Lions.
In the women's flat 60m-dash, Jermecia Brown finished fourth in the finals with a 7.57, with teammate Lauren Princz placing seventh with a 7.70. On the men's side, Traore's 6.63 school, meet, and facility record-setting win highlighted competition while Pat Abel finished sixth in the finals with a 6.89.
Penn State moved to the mile next, where Florence Caron placed third for the Nittany Lion women with a time of 4:46.32. Faith Demars clocked a 4:51.11 while Sophia Toti (4:52.03), and Zoe Duffus (4:55.58) rounded out Penn State's runners. Jonah Powell finished fifth in the men's mile, running a 4:07.67 while Kevin Haas placed eighth with a 4:08.25.
In the 400m, Zoey Goldstein (third, 55.38) and James Onwuka (second, 47.47) finished in the top three for the Nittany Lion women and men, respectively. Austin Gallant clocked a 47.72 for third place on the men's side.
Kitching's brilliant 1:28.18 won the women's 600-meters while teammate Victoria Vanriele placed second with her own 1:29.24 PR, setting the fourth-fastest time in school history in the event. Kitching's time also set meet and facility records at Michigan's indoor track. Carter Fitzgerald clocked a 1:17.41 to claim second overall in the men's 600-meters.
Maddie Ullom won the women's 800 with a personal-best 2:06.15 while Luke Seymour finished fifth for the men's squad, going 1:51.84 in the event.
Traore's dominant afternoon continued with his school record performance in the 200-meter dash. The graduate student finished second in the race, just 0.02 off of Purdue's Cameron Miller. The duo finished with the No. 1 and No. 2 times in Division I this season based on times entering competition today. Korbin Martino placed sixth in the men's 200m, recording a 21.78. In her second event of the day, Brown won the women's 200m with a 24.21 while Princz placed fourth with a 24.81.
Caron one-upped her third-place mile finish earlier in the afternoon with a second-place result in the 3,000-meters with a 9:29.54 PR. Lea Hatcher also recorded a personal-best in the event, finishing just behind Caron with a 9:30.07, good enough for fourth overall. Ryan Watson took third in the men's 3K, going 8:04.85 for a new PR. Christopher DeSousa placed fifth with a PR of his own, clocking an 8:12.67.
The Penn State women finished second in the 4x400 in their final competition of the day. The group of Brown, Vanriele, Goldstein, and Kitching stopped the clock in 3:39.40 to take second place overall. The men's squad of Abel, Gallant, Traore, and Martino placed third with a 3:12.45.
FIELD EVENT SUMMARY
Maddie Pitts (18-3.25, 5.57m) and Chloe Royce (18-2.5, 5.55m) went 3-4 in the women's long jump to start the scoring for the Nittany Lions. For the men, true freshman Ahmad Fogg won the event with a 23-6.75 (7.18m).
Isaac Osifo and Tim Watson posted a 1-2 result in the men's high jump, with Osifo placing first with a 6-8.75 (2.05m) clearance and Watson finishing tied for second, clearing 6-6.75 (2.00m). Gwen Cudmore (5-5, 1.65m) finished fourth for the Penn State women.
Victoria Atkinson continued the winning ways for the Nittany Lions as she collected her second-straight event title in the women's pole vault to start 2024. Atkinson cleared the bar at 13-1.5 (4.00m) for the victory. Tristan McGarrah placed fourth on the men's side, clearing 15-3 (4.65m).
Collin Burkhart went 64-5.75 (19.74m) to claim second in the men's weight throw. In the women's shot put, Mallory Kauffman followed up with a second-place result of her own, throwing 53-0 (16.15m). The men's shot put squad recorded the top three marks at the meet with Dylan Lambrecht (58-10, 17.93m) earning his first career win. Lucciano Pizarro (58-4.75, 17.80m) and Duane Knisely (57-10.5, 17.64m) rounded out the top three for Penn State.
Tesia Thomas finished fourth in the women's triple jump with a season-best 41-2.25 (12.55m) while teammate Lizzie Schreiber (40-1.5, 12.23m) finished sixth with a personal-best mark.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will return home to host the two-day Penn State National Open on Jan. 26 and 27 at the Multi-Sport Facility & Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.
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