CHARLOTTESVILLE Va. – The Penn State track & field team set three top ten program marks in an excellent day one of competition at the Virginia Challenge.
"I'm really pleased with how the team competed today," said Head Coach John Gondak. "If you look at the results, we had a lot of personal bests and people battling and winning their events, which is what you need with championship season just a few weeks away. We will get some rest tonight and be ready to go tomorrow."
On the track, Kileigh Kane and Makenna Krebs lowered their PRs for top ten marks in Penn State history in the 1500-meters and the steeplechase, respectively. In the field events, Chris Fredericks' 70.24-meter javelin toss is the tenth-best in school history.
TRACK EVENT SUMMARY
Penn State's first track event of the day was the 100-meter dash. Jermecia Brown advanced to the event finals with a 11.88 in the semis. In the finals, she ran another 11.88 to finish sixth overall.
In the open section of the women's 1500-meters, Sarah Pickering set a PR with a 4:22.89. In the men's race, all three of the Nittany Lion runners set personal-best marks. Tanner Piotrowski dropped three seconds off his PR with a 3:45.04, Ryan Watson clocked a 3:45.27, and Kevin Haas finished in 3:46.95.
Zoey Goldstein finished second overall in the women's 400-meter dash, stopping the clock in 54.39. Patrick Abel set a 400-meter PR with a 48.25 while Austin Gallant ran a 47.71 for the Penn State men.
Two Nittany Lions set season-best marks in the men's 800-meter invite. Darius Smallwood's 1:48.21 and Evan Dorenkamp's 1:48.99 both were season-best times. Yukichi Ishii was Penn State's top finisher at 1:47.99 while Handal Roban went 1:48.76 and Luke Seymour ran a 1:52.24.
Justin Healey set a PR in his third-straight steeplechase race, running a 9:14.54 for eighth overall in the open section.
A 4-5 finish from Kane and Maddie Ullom highlighted the women's 1500-meter invite. Kane's 4:16.40 lowered her PR and set the fifth-fastest time in school history. Following Kane in fourth was Ullom in fifth with a 4:16.71.
Faith DeMars took the steeplechase invite crown with a 10:06.92 while Krebs' 10:11.11 PR was good for third. Krebs' mark improved her PR and set the sixth-fastest time in school history.
Charlotte Costich placed seventh in the open women's 5K with a 16:55.79, a time that was just over a second off her personal-best mark.
FIELD EVENT SUMMARY
True freshman Jakub Korejba set a PR in the men's discus throw with a 166-10 (50.87m).
In the women's triple jump, true freshman Lizzie Schreiber set a PR, leaping 40-3.5 (12.28m) to finish tenth in the competition.
Fredericks' 230-5 (70.24m) javelin throw highlighted field event competition on Friday. The redshirt senior finished second overall in the event with the tenth-best mark in school history. For the women, Audrey Friedman placed fifth with a 137-5 (41.89m) throw while Lauren Shedleski hit 40 meters for the first time in her career, finishing eight place with a 134-4 (40.96m) best throw.
Both Tristan McGarrah and Jonathan Petersen cleared five meters in the pole vault for the first time this outdoor season. The Nittany Lion duo finished second and third, respectively, in the men's pole vault invite with 16-4.75 (5.00m) clearances. McGarrah made it on his first attempt while Petersen cleared on his second.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions return to action Saturday morning for day two of the Virginia Challenge.
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