June 11, 2016
RESULTS
EUGENE, Ore. - The busiest day of the week for Penn State, the Nittany Lion men had four athletes in action Friday afternoon at the NCAA Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field finishing the day with three All-Americans and a 17th-place finish as a team.
Second-year head coach John Gondak has now recorded Top 20 finishes at the men's NCAA outdoor championships in back-to-back season after finishing 10th at last year's outdoor meet.
"Today was fantastic," said head coach John Gondak.
"I know we came with a small group - only four student-athletes on the men's side - but it was a potent group. All four had the potential to earn All-American honors and we came away with three, and for the second year we finished inside the Top 20. I'm excited about the individual performances today and excited about seeing where Penn State ended up as a team as well."
First up for Penn State was freshman David Lucas in the discus throw. Lucas opened the competition with a throw of 51.93m (170'-4"). The freshman from Lititz, Pa. would record his best throw of the day on his second attempt in the prelims with a toss of 55.12m (180'-10"). Lucas' throw would finish the event as the 15th-best on the day earning the Warwick High School graduate second team All-American Honors.
Brannon Kidder was the next athlete up for the Blue & White in the finals of the men's 1,500-meters.
Kidder, who finished last year's outdoor championships as an All-American, finished in familiar territory as the Lancaster, Ohio native took fourth in the event in a time of 3:40.67 to finish his career with the second-highest finish in the event at the NCAA Championships in Penn State history.
Kidder became the first All-American in the 1,500-meters since 2013 when Robby Creese nabbed honors with his sixth-place finish and became the 10th 1,500-meter All-American in program history.
Brian Leap, entering this year's championships after taking 16th last year in the event, earned his first outdoor All-American finish in the triple jump completing competition with a best jump of 16.13m (52'-11").
Leap recorded the sixth-place mark during the opening round of jumps to begin the competition; the sixth-place finish ties for the third highest finish in the event at the NCAA Championships in Penn State history.
Isaiah Harris, the final Nittany Lion to compete at the NCAA men's meet, capped the day for Penn State on a high note as the freshman earned All-American honors in the 800-meters.
Harris entered the championships with a personal best of 1:46.05 set earlier in the year at the Florida Relays but ended the day with a new lifetime best of 1:45.76 that ranks No. 3 all-time in Penn State history trailing only Casimir Loxsom (1:45.28) and Brannon Kidder (1:45.58).
With the NCAA season now complete Brannon Kidder and Isaiah Harris will set their sights on the USA Olympic Trials set to begin July 1.
"Brannon and Isaiah both have auto qualifying marks for the trials in the 800-meters. I'm looking forward to getting back to training with them and preparing for what lies ahead. We have a few more athletes who are on the bubble with their marks so we'll see what happens there."
Penn State will wrap up competition in the 2016 NCAA Championships tomorrow as Tessa Barrett and Dannielle Gibson are set to compete in the finals of the 5,000-meters and triple jump, respectively.
For more on Nittany Lion track & field, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.