UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State begins its indoor postseason journey when it competes in the 2026 Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships. The three-day event, held at the Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion in Indianapolis, begins on Thursday, February 26 and continues until Saturday, February 28. Competition starts at 11:20 a.m. all three days.
The Nittany Lions bring their men’s No. 6 and women’s No. 25 USTFCCA rankings to Indianapolis as they seek to qualify for the National Championships on March 13-14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
TUNE IN LIVE
LAST TIME OUT
The Blue and White finished the indoor regular season as it hosted the Penn State Tune-Up and competed in the Philadelphia Metro, both held last Friday.
The Penn State individual and program record books were revised after the Philadelphia Metro. In the men’s distance medley relay, the quartet of Allon Clay, Handal Roban, Niko Schultz and Nick Sloff set a program record with a 9:18.58.
The individual revision came from Carter Fitzgerald, whose 1:01.97 in the 600-meter dash was the second-fastest time in program history. The men’s mile saw three Nittany Lions take part, including a new personal record from Jacob Smith at 4:06.05.
In University Park, eight Nittany Lions won their respective events and four personal bests were set in the Penn State Tune-Up. Highlights included Penn State sweeping the medal podium in the women’s weight throw, led by Alex Pancoast winning with a 65-9.50 (20.05m). Collin Burkhart dominated in the men’s weight throw, placing first with a 69-3.50 (21.12m).
Other winners included a sweep in men’s and women’s pole vault for Tristan McGarrah and Amelia McBain, Trip Campbell in men’s high jump, and Claire Zubey in the women’s mile.
Among the new personal bests included Tyler Rader’s event-winning 8:18.11 in the men’s 3k and Addyson White’s second-place 7.50 in the women’s 60-meter dash. White’s time also moved her into a tie for eighth in the program record book.
2025 BIG TEN INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS REWIND
The Nittany Lions will seek to improve from their 2025 trip to Big Ten Indoors, where the women placed seventh with 41 points and the men placed 12th with 25 points. The 2025 championships marked the first time Penn State competed against Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington in the conference championship meet.
Highlights from the women’s meet included Maddie Pitts placing third in the pentathlon with a 4,193, Hayley Kitching finishing second in the 800-meter with a 2:03.29 and Kileigh Kane earning third in the mile at 4:40.70. Pitts and Kitching are the only returning women Nittany Lions who qualified for nationals in 2025.
In the men’s event, Olivier Desmeules was the lone Penn State medalist after he outpaced the field in the 600-meter dash, finishing at 1:15.88. Desmeules was one of five Nittany Lions to qualify for nationals and three of them are returning in 2026: Ajani Dwyer, Yukichi Ishii and Jake Palermo.
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