LEXINGTON, Ky. – Cheickna Traore rewrote Penn State's record books on day three of competition at the NCAA East Region Preliminaries, a performance highlighted by his Olympic Standard achievement in the 200-meter dash. The Nittany Lions punched four tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday in a spectacular finish to the men's competition.
TICKETS PUNCHED
Traore's performance in the 200-meter dash was one for the ages. The star took down the entire field of 200-meter quarterfinalists, finishing first overall in the region with a ridiculous 19.93 Olympic Standard-achieving time. The mark set the Ivorian national record as well as Penn State's school record, his second of the afternoon.
Handal Roban and Yukichi Ishii booked trips to Eugene in one of the most competitive competitions of the weekend. Of the 24 quarterfinal runners, 16 set season or personal-best marks on Friday. Roban won heat three with a 1:46.02 season-best time while Ishii grabbed the second timed qualifying mark with a 1:46.22 PR, the sixth-fastest time in Penn State history.
Penn State's men's 4x400-meter relay group of Roban, Pat Abel, Olivier Desmeules, and Traore clocked a 3:03.15 to secure a big Q and advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Anchored by an otherworldy 44.00 split by Traore, the group set the second-fastest 4x400 mark in school history. This marks the third consecutive season that the Nittany Lion men's 4x400 group will appear in the National Championship meet.
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES
In his first race of the day, Traore clocked a school record-setting 10.15 in the 100-meter dash. The mark placed him 13th in the region, just a fraction of a second from a qualifying spot in the national meet.
Mixed in the incredible men's 800-meter race was Darius Smallwood, who posted a personal-best 1:47.14, a mark good for 16th in the region.
Hailey Zurich finished tied for 13th in the East Region in the women's pole vault this morning, jumping an outdoor-best 13-9.25 (4.20m). She is now one of two Nittany Lions ever to jump 4.20 meters or better during the outdoor season. Zurich finished just outside of a spot in the NCAA Outdoor Championships after a jump-off decided the final qualifying entry. Teammate Victoria Atkinson finished 26th in the region with a 13-5.25 (4.10m) mark.
In the men's high jump, Isaac Osifo concluded his 2024 outdoor campaign, a season in which he recorded the tenth-best high jump in school history, with a 28th-place finish in the region. Osifo cleared 6-10.25 (2.09m) in his Friday afternoon outing.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lion women will conclude competition for Penn State at this year's NCAA East Region Preliminary meet tomorrow. Penn State's NCAA Championships qualifiers will then prepare for competition in Oregon, which is set to take place June 5-8 at Hayward Field.
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