INDIANAPOLIS – The Penn State track & field team concluded competition at the 2025 Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, a performance that was highlighted by three medal-winning performances, including a 600-meter title for Olivier Desmeules.
MEDALISTS
Desmeules won the Big Ten 600-meter crown in 1:15.881, a mere six thousandths of a second faster than the second-place finisher. The Canadian is Penn State’s third indoor 600m conference champion and with his title this season, went back-to-back with teammate Handal Roban, who won the event last year.
Hayley Kitching, the Nittany Lion 800-meter All-American, took second in the conference in her main event, running 2:03.29, just two hundredths of a second behind the race winner. It is her third indoor conference medal in three seasons.
Kileigh Kane took home her second medal in the Big Ten indoor mile run, clocking a 4:40.70 to finish third overall.
POINT SCORERS
Penn State’s women’s team finished seventh in the conference thanks to _ standout point-scorers on Saturday. On the men’s side, the group finished 12th overall.
Emi Erekosima qualified for the triple jump final and placed eighth in the conference with a 49-9 (15.16m) leap, collecting one point for his effort.
Damoy Allen placed seventh in the men’s 60-meter final with a 6.84, securing two points for Penn State.
Yukichi Ishii finished sixth overall in the men’s 800-meter final, stopping the clock in 1:48.80.
Allison Johnson finished fifth in the women’s 800m, recording a 2:05.36 to pick up four points. Combined with Kitching’s silver, the 800-meter runners for Penn State collected 12 points.
Darius Smallwood took fourth in the men’s 600m, recording a 1:16.15. Smallwood and Desmeules, the event champion, combined for 15 points, the most by one event group among the entire Nittany Lion team in the meet.
Freshman Ajani Dwyer ran a 20.87 to finish fifth in the 200-meter dash, picking up four points.
Fellow newcomer Tayissa Buchanan placed seventh in the women’s 600m with a 1:32.90, earning two points.
Penn State’s women’s 4x400-meter relay team concluded the championships with an outstanding season-best 3:36.84 sixth-place mark to pick up three points. Maddie Pitts, Meghan Quinn, Mimi Duffy, and Zoey Goldstein kept the women’s team ahead of eighth-place team finisher Minnesota with a fantastic effort in the last event of the meet.
UP NEXT
Select Nittany Lions will compete at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Virginia Beach, Va. from Friday, March 14-Saturday, March 15. Qualifying performances for the meet will officially be announced Tuesday, March 4.
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