CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Penn State Track & Field team got off to a strong start at the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Friday.
The Penn State men left the meet's opening day with the top team score, highlighted by Mark Porter's individual championship victory in the men's javelin. The Nittany Lions took three of the top four spots in the event, with Porter (72.89m, 239-1) in first, Chris Fredericks (67.55m, 221-7) in third and Kevin Bartosh (64.57) in fourth. After a slow start, Porter claimed the lead on his third throw and never surrendered the advantage. The throws team also had a strong showing in the men's hammer throw, with Tyler Merkley placing second with a 69.10m (226-8) throw and true freshman Henry Zimmerman placing sixth with a throw of 60.76m (119-4). Merkley entered his final attempt in fourth place before setting his personal record on his final throw to jump up to claim the silver.
Luke Knipe posted an outdoor PR of 5.22m (17-1.5) to place fifth in the men's pole vault. On the track, Evan Dorenkamp set a PR of his own with a 3:44.29 in the men's 1500m run to advance to the 1500m final on Sunday.
On the women's side, the day begin with a big showing from Maddie Holmberg in the women's heptathlon. In the final multi-event of the day, the senior topped the leaderboard in the women's 200m dash with a time of 24.51 to surge into the lead heading into Saturday with a score of 3463. The women also found success in Friday's preliminary events, beginning with the 400m hurdles where Antoinette Bradley (59.01) and Yasmin Brooks (59.02) set personal records to advance to Sunday's final. Two-time defending Big Ten 1500m champion Danae Rivers also advanced to the Sunday's final, recording a time of 4:24.46. Gianna Rao got the women's throwers on the board, scoring in the hammer throw for the first time in her career at the Big Ten Championships with her seventh place finish. Kathryn Munks closed out a solid opening day for Penn State with a third place finish in the women's 10,000m run, recording a time of 33:37.55. Munks has now scored in the event each of her four Big Ten Championships with this year's finish being her best. Munks moved up from fifth to third in the final 150 meters of the race to earn the bronze.
Penn State currently stands first on the men's team leaderboard with 36 points after day one. Indiana ranks second with 27.33 points and Minnesota sits third with 20.33 points. On the women's side, the Nittany Lions stand fifth with eight points. Michigan State and Minnesota share the lead with 19 points.
"Penn State Track and Field had a near perfect day today at the Big Ten Championships," Head Coach John Gondak said. "Almost everyone had a personal best or seasonal best in their event today and that is all you can ask at championship time is to be your best! We had a great presence at the meet today and continue to grow as a team. I am looking forward to seeing how we compete tomorrow based off of the momentum we started today"
Saturday's events are scheduled to begin with the final events of the men's decathlon and heptathlon at 12:30 p.m. Individual events are scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. with the men's discus throw.
For full coverage of the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships, head to Big Ten Championship Central.
DAY ONE RESULTS: https://live.pttiming.com/?mid=2253