BOSTON – Highlighted by a silver-medal finish in the men's 200-meters by Cheickna Traore, the Penn State track & field team earned four First Team All-America honors on the final day of competition at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the TRACK at New Balance.
Penn State's men's team finished tied for 21st in the nation with 12 team points. The Nittany Lion women collected six total points, finishing 31st overall, their first scoring outing at the NCAA Indoor Championships since 2019. The men's team's final ranking is its highest finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships since it placed 10th in 2018.
ALL-AMERICANS
Traore began the day for the Nittany Lions with a seventh-place finish in the 60-meter dash. His 6.68 in the event led him to his first of two First Team All-America finishes on Saturday.
Next, Handal Roban placed seventh overall in the men's 800-meters, going 1:48.16 in the finals. The First Team All-America finish is Roban's third-straight in the 800, following his third-place finishes in the event during both indoor and outdoor seasons last year. Roban and former Nittany Lion standout Isaiah Harris are the only two athletes in Penn State history with multiple First Team All-America finishes in the indoor 800-meters.
Penn State's final event in the men's competition was Traore's 200-meter dash. The graduate student won the first heat of the competition with a record-setting 20.30 and was surpassed by just one runner in the second heat, netting him second place in the country.
Finally, Hayley Kitching closed out competition for the Nittany Lions with her fourth-place finish in the women's 800-meters. The Australian ran a 2:02.16 to claim fourth in the nation, earning First Team All-America recognition. Kitching became the first female Nittany Lion to earn that recognition in the indoor 800-meters since Danae Rivers won the NCAA title in 2019.
TRAORE IN THE RECORD BOOKS
- Traore's 20.30 in his second-place finish in the 200-meter dash came in as the fifth-fastest time in the world this year and lowered his own Ivorian National record and Penn State school record.
- The star sprinter became Penn State's first-ever 60-meter First Team All-American with his outing on Saturday.
- Traore's silver-medal finish in the 200-meters is the highest by a Penn State indoor 200-meter sprinter ever.
- His First Team All-America finish in the 200-meters is just the third in school history and the first since Ryan Olkowski finished eighth in 2002.
- Traore became the first member of Penn State's men's team to earn two First Team All-America honors in the same indoor season since Brannon Kidder in 2015 (7th in the mile, 2nd in the DMR), and its first to do so in two individual events (excluding relays) since Olkowski in 2002 (200m - 8th, high jump - 5th).
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions roll right into the 2024 outdoor season in two weeks when they travel to Florida for the UCF Knights Invite on March 22-23.
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