UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State track & field has qualified seven entries into the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, as announced by the association Tuesday night. Boston College and UMass are set to host this year's NCAA meet, which will take place March 8 and 9 at New Balance's the TRACK facility in Boston.
Superstar sprinter Cheickna Traore, primed to compete in the 60-meters and the 200-meters, will lead Penn State's men's contingent. Joining Traore will be fellow Big Ten champion Handal Roban and conference bronze medalist Carter Fitzgerald, who will both run in the 800-meters.
For the Nittany Lion women, it will be Hayley Kitching, the sophomore standout, who qualified in the 800-meters as well as the distance medley relay. Fellow DMR qualifiers Zoey Goldstein, Maddie Ullom, and Kileigh Kane will also travel to Boston for the national meet. Kane will also toe the line in the mile.
QUALIFYING MARKS
Men
- 60m – 6.54 – T-No. 6
- 200m – 20.42 – No. 6
- 800m – 1:46.81 – No. 6
- 800m – 1:47.25 – No. 14
Women
- 800m – 2:01.77 – T-No. 7
- Mile – 4:32.97 – No. 23
Kitching, Goldstein, Ullom, Kane
- DMR – 10:49.05 – No. 8
Above marks listed (event – time – Division I rank)
RECORD-BREAKING SEASON
Both Traore and Kitching are coming off a Big Ten Indoor Championship weekend where they earned multiple conference titles and set school records. Traore reset his own 60-meter school record twice on his way to his first of three Big Ten crowns. He also won the 200-meters and the 4x400-meter relay. Kitching reset her 600-meter school record twice as well, claiming conference titles in the aforementioned 600-meters as well as the 800-meters.
The pair own school records in each of their NCAA-qualifying events, with Traore's 20.42 200-meter mark and Kitching's 2:01.77 800-meter time sitting atop the Penn State charts as well. Additionally, Kitching, Goldstein, Ullom, and Kane's 10:49.05 DMR time from this past season, in addition to being a school record, is the seventh-best mark in the event in collegiate history.
Kane and Roban both ascended to the No. 2 spots in Penn State indoor history in their respective events this season, with Kane's 4:32.97 mile time and Roban's 1:46.81 800-meter mark each sitting second in school history.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
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