An Inside Look at Day One of the Big Ten Championships From Mark Heckel

Brannon Kidder, Za'Von Walkins, Brandon Bennett-Green, Ryan Brennan and Coach Gondak.

When I ask Mark Heckel to jot down a few notes (or contribute the recent obit for a PSU great!), he comes through like the true champion he is.  He posted this in our Facebook site and I am cross posting it here for a bigger audience.

Getting to serve as the field referee at a major championship, you are kept busy with many things. I didn't get a chance to see much on the track today, but I did get to see a lot of the field events. Here's what I observed . . . .

It was a spirited day at the first day of the Big 10 Indoor championships at the SPIRE Institute. While I will not bore you with results and stats (you can find that on-line), I wanted to give you all a sense of the meet atmosphere.

State was definitely in the thick of the meet, with some great performances on both sides of the ledger. Our future alumni ran, jumped and threw well, setting up what should be a good day 2 in a few hours.

I would have to say (and yes, it is a bit biased) that Penn State had the best, most consistent, most vocal, most involved cheering section all day. The cheering, chanting and support for their fellow athletes was great, with more than just a few "WE ARE . . ."chants echoing through the facility. The teams were energized and excited, from the opening of the multi's to the end of the women's LJ. It was a good day to be a Nittany Lion.

I did get to see parts of the men's DMR, and it was a much more tactical race than I think anyone thought it would be. Illinois lead early, but State stayed in the race, eventually pulling away to win. I saw the later half of the finals of the women's shot, and all three of our finalists competed well.

Brittany Howell finished a single point out of bronze in the Pentathlon, with Tal Ben-Artzi 6th. Robert Cardina sits in 4th in the men's heptathlon after day one, a scant 29 points out of the bronze, and fewer than 60 points from silver. I liked his performance in the HJ, and if he can have a good day today, will definitely be in the hunt for some hardware.

In other finals, the seeded section of the 3000 belonged to State's Tori Gerlach by 2 seconds; the womens' DMR was 9th; Lexi Masterson picked 1/2 point in the women's PV; Brian Leap (7th) and Sgeve Waithe (8th) combined for 3 points in the men's LJ; Rachel Fatherly (4th), Melissa Kurzdorfer (5th) and Alyssa Robinson (8th) combined for 10 team points in the women's SP; and Darrell Hill grabbed 6th in the men's SP.

Advancers to today's finals include: Marta Klebe (mile), Robby Creese and Wade Endress (mile), Kiah Seymour and Dynasty McGee (400), Bernard Bennett-Green and Byron Robinson (400 - Brandon Bennett-Green the first man out by .01!), Mahogony Jones (60), Klebe (800), Brandon Kidder, Ryan Brennan and Za'Von Watkins (800), Evonne Britton and Howell (60 hurdles - Shelley Black the first woman out by .01), Jones and Seymour (200 with the #1 and #2 qualifying times).

The most interesting event for me today will definitely be the men's weight throw. 6 of the top 10 weight throwers in the nation are entered, with Will Barr representing the Lions. It should a great competition, only a little more than 3 feet separate the top 6 on the performance list.

Hopefully, I can write more tomorrow, if I can get home before the "snowmageddon" on Sunday!