CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Penn State track and field teams had a dominant day of competition on Friday at the Virginia Challenge, which saw the Nittany Lions finish with a combined seven new top-10 marks in program history.
After setting the newest program record in women's pole vault last weekend, senior Katie Jones broke her own mark with a new record height of 4.31m (14-1.75) to place second.
Madison Smith began the day's competition with a mark of 57.08m (154-5) in women's javelin to place fifth.
Kevin Bartosh spearheaded the men's javelin group with a new personal-best mark of 67.26m (220-8) to place seventh overall. Freshman Collin Burkhart threw a distance of 64.97m (213-2). Chris Fredericks finished with a season-best mark of 63.54m (208-5). Tristan Schmidt rounded out the quartet with a mark of 60.35m (198-0). It marked the first time this season that all four throwers had marks over 60m.
Women's long jump saw an eventful finish, as both Breana Gambrell and Tesia Thomas jumped top-10 marks in program history to place in the top-three. Gambrell finished with the seventh-best mark in program history, a distance of 6.30m (20-8), to come out on top. On her final jump of the day, Thomas covered 6.22m (20-5) to take the third-place spot, while also placing her ninth in Nittany Lion history.
Mallory Kauffman continued her standout season by throwing a lifetime best distance of 51.88m (170-2) to win the women's discus. The mark now improves her to fourth all-time in program history.
Senior Thomas Bojalad finished fourth in the men's discus throw with a mark of 52.18m (171-2).
Men's program record holder Luke Knipe finished fourth in the men's pole vault with a mark of 5.21m (17-1).
Competing in her second heptathlon of the season, Chloe Royce finished day one of competition with 3,173 points scored through four events to position herself fifth. Royce scored 928 points in the 100m hurdles, 818 in the high jump, 590 in the shot put and 837 in the 200m dash.
Starting off the day on the track, freshman Lauren Princz sprinted to a new personal-best time of 12.16 in the women's 100m dash prelims.
In the women's 400m, the duo of Jane Madson and Jermecia Brown both narrowly missed out on their personal-best marks with times of 55.63 and 55.65, respectively. Freshman Zoey Goldstein set a new personal record with a time of 55.89 seconds.
Fellow freshman James Onwuka led the men's group with a time of 48.03 to place in tenth.
Kileigh Kane ran a personal best time of 4:27.53 in the women's 1500m. Tanner Piotrowski finished with a lifetime-best time of 3:49.61 in the men's race.
Faith DeMars ran the third-fastest women's 3000m Steeplechase time in program history by clocking a 10:06.27 to place third. Makenna Krebs finished in eighth with a time of 10:16.80, which now ranks as the seventh-fastest time in Penn State history.
In the women's 1500m invite, sophomore Madaline Ullom ran a 4:14.58 to place fifth in a strong field. Her time now ranks as the second-fastest time in program history.
Connor McMenamin ran a new personal-best time of 9:02.14 in the men's 3000m steeplechase.
The Nittany Lions conclude competition in Charlottesville Saturday at noon when the women's high jump invite and the heptathlon long jump are both set to begin. Competition on the track is set to resume at 12:30 p.m. with the women's 100m hurdles.
