Jan. 9, 2016
- Penn State Relays Results- VIDEO: Head Coach John Gondak
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State track & field program opened the 2016 indoor season with several strong performances Saturday at the Penn State Relays including three school records and two meet record en route to 17 event titles at the Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.
"It was an outstanding day overall," said head track and field coach John Gondak.
"I thought the stands were packed and it stayed that way the entire day. It was an electric atmosphere here at the Ashenfelter III track. I told the kids all week long that we needed to come in here and compete, simply compete, and I saw that today all across the board, we won 17 events which was outstanding for our program with both newcomers and veterans contributing equally. In my ten years being here this was probably the best Penn State Relays I've experienced."
Penn State would start the day off with a win in the first event of the day as Rachel Fatherly's throw of 64'8" (19.71m) led the entire field by almost three feet. Alyssa Robinson would finish behind Fatherly in second with a best mark of 61'9.5" (18.83m). Fatherly would once again take to the circle, this time for the shot put. The senior from Williamsport, Pa. would win her second event of the day with a throw of 53'5.5" (16.29m). Teammates Obeng Marfo and Alyssa Robinson would finish third and seventh with marks of 49'5" (15.06m) and 45'7.75" (13.91m), respectively.
The men's weight throw would see Morgan Shigo and Kory Decesaris both finish inside the top-five. Shigo took second-place with a throw of 64'5" (19.63m), while Decesaris claimed fourth with a mark of 58'9.5" (17.92m). Shigo would return for the shot recording a seventh-place finish (50'9.5"/15.48m) behind teammate and event winner Jon Yohman's mark of 55'1.5" (16.80m).
Kobren Frederick and Kaitlyn Lopez would advance to the finals of the men's and women's triple jump, respectively. Frederick would finish with third (45'5.75"/13.86m), while Lopez took second with a best jump of 37'10.75" (11.55m).
Lopez and Frederick would return to the runways again, this time to compete in the long jump.
Frederick would finish eighth behind teammates Cody Minnig in fourth-place (22'5.75"/6.85m) and Malik Moffett who took second-place in the competition with a best jump of 22'8.5" on the day. Lopez would finish fifth in the women's long jump leaping out to a mark of 17'9" (5.41m), but it was Penn State's Madeline Holmburg who stole the show. The freshman from Greensburg, Pa. took the individual honors by winning the long jump with a best jump of 19'2.5" (5.85m).
The men's and women's pole vault would provide some of the most exciting action on the day as two meet records and a school record would be set.
Army's Lee Bares would reset the men's meet record previously held by Cornell's Evan Whitehall at 16'4.75" (4.99m) after successfully clearing 16'10.75" (5.15m) to place his name in the Penn State Relay record books.
In the women's pole vault, Penn State would finish 1-2-3-4 as Lexi Masterson would finish on top with a new meet and school record.
Masterson passed on the first four bars opting to enter the competition at 12'6.25" (3.82m), the junior from Jeannette, Pa. would clear four-straight bars with the final bar coming at a Penn State Relays and Penn State Indoor track and field record height of 13'6.25" (4.12m), erasing the old record of 13'5.5" (4.11m) set by Sarah Dougherty in 2004. Hannah Mulhern would take second with a huge PR of 13'4.25" (4.07m), besting her previous career best of 12-3.25 (3.74) by over a foot. Kasey Kemp and Megan Fry would each clear 12'6.25" (3.82m) to finish third and fourth, respectively.
The high jump events would see two Penn State underclassmen take home bragging rights as Sophomore Megan McCloskey took the title for the women clearing 5'8" (1.73), while true-freshman Chisom Ifedi took the title on the men's side clearing a personal best 7'1.5" (2.17m). Ifedi's personal best heading into the weekend was 6'10" during his prep career. Robert Cardina also delivered a great performance in his first meet of the year following an injury plagued 2015 with a clearance of 6'9" (2.10m).Freshmen Devin Bradham and Malik Moffett also competed in the high jump finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.
Madeline Holmberg notched another win for the Nittany Lions on the women's side in long jump while Moffett finished as the top male triple jumper for Penn State finishing second (22'8.5"/6.92m).
The 60-meter hurdles showcased sophomore Quenee Dale in a near meet record performance clocking 8.33 just a mere six one-hundredths of a second off the meet record set by Penn State's Evonne Britton in 2014. Madeline Holmburg would finish third in the finals of the 60m hurdles alongside Dale.
Keianna Albury, a freshman from Nassau, Bahamas stepped up her first time wearing the blue & white running a meet best time of 7.58 seconds for the win. Xavier Smith would replicate the win on the men's side in record fashion breaking the old school record of 6.76 held by Ernie Terrell set in 2003 by laying down a 6.70 on the Horace Ashenfelter III track. Smith's 6.70 also breaks the meet record held by Dennison Long of 6.74 set in 2014.
The 4x800m relay of Julie Kocjancic, Victoria Crawford, Elizabeth Chikotas, and Tori Gerlach ran their way into the Penn State Relay record book with their performance of 8:45.85, falling .25 seconds short of breaking the Penn State indoor record.
Other Penn State wins on the day include, the men's 4x800m relay (7:25.28), Tichina Rhodes in the women's 200m (24.67), Alex Shisler in the men's 200m (21.47), Both the men's and women's Distance Medley Relays, and the men's 4x400m relay.
Penn State will host the 2016 Nittany Lion Challenge Jan. 16th at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.