UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State track and field teams will journey down to the University of Virginia this weekend to compete in a three-day meet at the Virginia Challenge from Thursday to Saturday.
The meet in Charlottesville will kick off at 5 p.m. on Thursday, with action continuing at 9 a.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday. Thursday's action will exclusively feature the men's and women's hammer throw, with the majority of competition at the meet set for Friday and Saturday.
HOW TO FOLLOW/ LIVE RESULTS
LIVE RESULTS: https://www.flashresults.com/2022_Meets/Outdoor/04-22_VirginiaChallenge/
A LOOK BACK
The Nittany Lions travel down south after a strong weekend of in-state competition at the Bison Outdoor Classic in Bucknell last weekend. The team racked up 24 total top-three event finishes and multiple personal-best performances throughout the three-day meet.
Thomas Bojalad began the weekend on Thursday with a first-place finish in men's discus, throwing a distance of 52.73m (173-0) to get the first win of the meet for Penn State.
Friday's action saw sophomore Madaline Ullom earn second place in the women's 1500m invite after finishing with a time of 4:20.71. On the men's side, senior Brandon Hontz also had a runner-up finish as he ran a time of 3:43.10.
Sophia Toti ran a new personal best time of 16:35.89 in the women's 5000m invite, finishing in third.
The final day of competition saw Katie Jones break the second Nittany Lions pole vault record of the outdoor season with her mark of 4.28m (14-0.5), which shattered the previous record height of 4.17m (13-8.25). She now stands as both the indoor and outdoor pole vault record holder.
After throwing the sixth-best program history mark of 51.03m (167-5) in women's discus to win the event on Friday, Mallory Kauffman repeated with her second first-place finish of the weekend in shot put as her distance of 16.07m (52-8.75) put her on top Saturday.
Freshman Collin Burkhart threw a new lifetime-best mark of 63.87m (209-6) in men's hammer throw, which earned him a second-place finish.
On the track, the duo of Rachel Gearing and Victoria Tachinski each had standout performances in the 400m and 800m. Gearing ran a new personal-best time of 56.02 in the 400m and a 2:07.09 in the 800m, which now stands as her new outdoor personal record. Tachinski finished fourth in the 400 with a time of 56.37 and second in the 800 with a time of 2:05.90.
Darius Smallwood won the men's 800m with a new lifetime-best time of 1:48.65.
HIGH-RANKING NITTANY LIONS
Following last weekend, here are the Penn State athletes currently ranked among the top 25 in the nation for their respective events, via TFRRS and the USTFCCCA:
- Tyler Merkley- ranked fourth in men's Hammer Throw
- Victoria Tachinski- ranked 13th in the women's 800m
- Katie Jones- ranked 14th in women's Pole Vault
- Yasmin Brooks- ranked 15th in the women's 100m Hurdles
- Faith DeMars- ranked 19th in women's 3000m Steeplechase
- Luke Knipe- ranked 22nd in men's Pole Vault
- Mallory Kauffman- ranked 22nd in women's Shot Put
- Cecelia Bacon- ranked 24th in women's High Jump