March 14, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Penn State track & field's David Lucas and Terrance Laird were named Big Ten Men's Field Athlete and Men's Freshman of the Year, respectively, as announced by the conference.
At the NCAA Championships, David Lucas became the first men's track & field athlete at Penn State since C.J. Hunter in 1990 to stand atop the podium at the Indoor Championships as he captured the weight throw title in historic fashion. The sophomore from Lititz, Pa. by way of Warwick High School improved on every throw of the competition barring his final throw that was his first scratch of the competition. Lucas' progression of 21.56m (70'-9"), 22.29m (73'-1.75"), 22.84m (74'-11.25"), 23.02m (75'-6.25"), 24.02m (78'-9.75") saw his best throw serve as a new school record, a new facility record, the fourth-best mark in NCAA meet history and established the biobehavioral health major as the NCAA Champion, besting the runner-up in the event by over three feet.
Lucas was the Big Ten runner-up in the men's weight throw and recorded five first-place finishes in the event throughout the season. This is the first Big Ten Men's Field Athlete of the Year award for Penn State and is only the third Athlete of the Year award for the men's program joining Casimir Loxsom who was the 2013 Big Ten Men's Track Athlete of the Year and Isaiah Harris who won the award last season.
Terrance Laird earned the Big Ten Men's Freshman of the Year award following a stellar first season in the Blue & White. Laird raced his way into the NCAA meet with a second-place finish in the men's 200-meters at the conference meet where he shattered the school record with his time of 20.56. The freshman from Coatesville, Pa. finished the season as the fastest freshman in the 200-meters and earned second-team All-American honors at the NCAA Indoor meet in College Station, Texas.
During the season, Laird recorded three first-place finishes in the 200-meters as well as running the No. 5 time in program history in the 60-meters (6.78). Laird is the first Penn State athlete since Brannon Kidder in 2013 to earn Freshman of the Year for the Big Ten Conference.
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