BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Penn State track & field team concluded day two of the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with a third-place finish by Faith DeMars in the women's steeplechase.
The women's squad produced four top-eight finishers on day two of competition. In addition to DeMars' steeplechase bronze, freshman Maddie Pitts concluded her outing in the heptathlon with a fourth-place standing. Mallory Kauffman posted a school record in the women's shot put, earning fifth place in the conference. Tesia Thomas rounded out the scorers on day two with an eighth-place finish in the women's long jump.
On the men's side, Lucciano Pizarro posted a fourth-place finish with a PR in the men's shot put and Luke Knipe, the program record-holder in the pole vault, set a personal-best mark to finish eighth in the conference in the long jump.
Penn State also qualified six athletes for tomorrow's championship track events. In the men's 800-meter run, Handal Roban, Callum Dodds, and Darius Smallwood each moved on with qualifying marks. For the women, Rachel Gearing, Hayley Kitching, and Allison Johnson will compete in tomorrow's final round.
The men's squad is tied for fifth place with Iowa (26 points) and the women's group is tied for sixth with Ohio State (19 points) heading into championship Sunday.
TRACK EVENT SUMMARY
Penn State started out on the track with the preliminary round of the men's 400-meter run. The Nittany Lions' top two finishers, Austin Gallant (47.52) and Carter Fitzgerald (47.85 PR), both competed in their first Big Ten Outdoor Championships and posted solid marks in the prelims. For the women, Zoey Goldstein set a season-best mark with a 55.35 to finish 14th overall, and Jane Madson came in 17th with a 55.43.
In the 800-meter run, Penn state qualified three on the men's side. Dodds (1:48.26 Q), Roban (1:48.30 q), and Smallwood (1:50.21 Q) all will compete in tomorrow's finals. Olivier Desmeules ran a 1:50.18, finishing just shy of a qualifying mark. For the women, Kitching (2:06.15 Q), Johnson (2:06.68q), and Gearing (2:06.91 Q) will go tomorrow afternoon in the finals. Teammate Victoria Vanriele posted a 2:09.13 for a 15th-place finish.
In the final track event of the evening, DeMars clocked a 10:14.01 in the steeplechase to earn a bronze medal, the Nittany Lions second top-three finish of the competition. Makenna Krebs finished just outside of a point-scoring standing in ninth place, coming across the line in 10:19.29.
FIELD EVENT SUMMARY
The entire Nittany Lion men's shot put group put up personal-best marks in the first field competition of the day. Pizarro's fourth-place finish (65-0.75, 19.83m) set the fifth-best mark in school history in the event. Duane Knisely qualified for the finals with his career-best mark of 59-9.5 (18.22m) and Dylan Lambrecht posted a 58-11.5 (17.97m) in his first Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
In his season debut in the long jump, Knipe scored a point with an eighth-place finish, leaping a personal-best 24-2.5 (7.38m).
Kauffman's school record-setting personal-best mark of 56-4.75 (17.19m) gave the shot put crew a fourth personal-best mark on the afternoon. The junior finished fifth in the conference with her outstanding mark, breaking the eight-year-old Penn State school record.
In the men's high jump, freshman Tim Watson led the way for Penn State, hitting his PR in the second-straight meet. Watson cleared the bar at 6-9.75 (2.08m) to finish tied for ninth place in the conference.
Thomas leapt 19-5.5 (5.93m) to place eighth in the women's long jump. Pitts and Chloe Royce, fresh off their outings in the heptathlon, competed in the long jump as well with Royce placing tenth overall with a 19-3.25 (5.87m) jump and Pitts taking 20th with a 18-5.75 (5.63m) leap.
MULTI-EVENT STANDINGS
In one of the Nittany Lions' biggest highlights of the day, Pitts finished fourth place in the conference with the eighth-best heptathlon total in school history, totaling 5,265 points. In just her second full heptathlon, Pitts put on an excellent performance on the conference's biggest stage.
Pitts – 5,265 pts, 4th overall
- 100H PR (14.04, 2nd)
- High jump PR (5-3.75, 1.62m, 9th)
- Shot put PR (39-2.25, 11.94m, 5th),
- 200m PR (24.35, 2nd)
- Long Jump PR (19-6.75, 5.96m, 2nd)
- Javelin Throw (57-4, 17.49m, 11th)
- 800m PR (2:15.30, 3rd)
Royce – DNF
- 100H PR (14.32, 8th)
- High Jump (5-5, 1.65m, 5th)
- Shot Put (33-8.5, 10.27m, 10th)
- 200m SB (25.41, 6th)
UP NEXT
Penn State will resume competition tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. with the men's discus throw, beginning the third and final day of the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
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