Mark Heckel's Day 2 Report From the B1G Indoor Championships!

Fan Support!

PSU is 800 U

Or is it?

Well, Saturday was a great day to be a Nittany Lion, especially if you were in Geneva, Ohio!

I was much busier on Saturday (handling protests and putting out fires) than I thought I would be, but I did get to see some things.

Jon Hendershot looked good in the high jump, taking 5th at 2.12m on fewer misses. The high jump, which is in the north end of the area, got a good bit of attention as the winning jump was 2.15m, and four jumpers cleared 2.12.

Brian Leap finished 7th in the LJ, a centimeter out of 6th, while Marlene Ricketts fnished 6th in the women's TJ. Steve Waithe finished a mere centimeter from the gold in the men's TJ, with Leap adding more team points in 6th.

Alyssa Robinson was the early leader in the women's weight, but everyone was chasing Purdue's Dani Bunch. Robinson threw well, but finished back in the pack. Her two teammates, however, stayed in hot pursuit of the Boilermaker. Melissa Kurzdorfer and Rachel Fatherly kept pushing, but couldn't make up the last little distance, finishing with silver and bronze respectively. I though technically they both looked good, and more importantly, their combined 14 team points here (and 10 from the SP) were valuable in the women's team race.

In the other WT competition, the expectation was that we might see a collegiate record from Wisconsin's Michael Lihrman. While that didn't happen, it was a good contest none the less. Will Barr was in the thick of the competition, but I was most impressed by his last round 21.50 that moved him to 5th. Barr told me after the event that he had been stuck at 69'11 3/4" since the NCAA indoor lat year, and that the 21.50/70'6 1/2 was finally a monkey off his back. He said I must be good luck for him, as he seems to throw well when I'm around! (I don't know about that, but hey, if he believes it, all the better!)

Pentathlete Tal Ben-Artzi came off her pentathlon 6th place finish to add more points by taking 5th in the women's HJ, Sarah Palmer adding more points taking 8th. Robert Cardina had a solid second day, but couldn't gain any ground on the medalists and remained 4th.

Other palcers included: Marta Kelebe (8th mile); Robby Kreese (7th) and Wade Endress (8th) in the mile; Kiah Seymour outsped everyone else in the 400 for the gold, with Dynasty McGee adding 3 teams points in 6th; Bernard Bennett-Green was on the medal stand with bronze in the men's 400, with Byron Robinson adding team points in 8th; Mahogany Jones was silver (and oh, so close to gold) in the women's 60; Klebe added another team point to the growing women's total in the 800m; Evonne Britton brought home silver in the 60 hurdles, with the hard working (and very busy after the pentathlon and LJ) Brittany Howell finishing just out of the points in 9th; Leigha Anderson added a 4th in the women's 5000;

The men's 800m only had 5 schools represented in the 8 finalists, but three of the finalists wore Nittany Lion blue. Brannon Kidder, Za'Von Watkins and Ryan Brennan helped assure State's top three team finish with a strong showing - making sure people know that Penn State is "800 U". Kidder won the event in a close race (.04 faster than Wisconsin's Austin Mudd) while Watkins and Brennan finished 5th and 7th.

The women's team race had gone back and forth through most of the meet between Michigan and Penn State. Each would surge, only to be caught by the other. One of the key events was the women's 200. Mahogany Jones and Kiah Seymour had the fastest qualifying times, so State looked to score some serious points in the event. Michigan advanced only 1 athlete to the final. Seizing on the opportunity, Jones and Seymour captured 18 highly valuable points by going gold/silver, while Michigan's Cindy Olfili faded to 4th - a 13 point swing for the Lady Lions.

So, after most all was said and done, and the points had been tallied from all the other events, it literally all came down to the 4x4 relays. In case you didn't know (or remember) the Big 10 seeds the 4x4 based on the team point standings going in to the event. Both Penn State squads were in the top 6, so both ran in the second section of their respective events. The women were up first, trailing Michigan by a mere 1/2 point, and the men were in an uneasy 3rd, just 1.5 points ahead of Illinois.

All Penn State's women needed to do was finish ahead of Michigan to lock the team title. But the race between the 2 schools, wasn't ever a race. State's foursome of Jones, McGee, Rhodes and Seymour ran a good race to win the event . . . while Michigan appeared to be running a nice, easy Sunday morning jog, finishing more than 12 seconds slower than the Lions and DFL. With the relay win, the women iced the team title by 10 points of the Lady Wolverines, and the women's party was on! Coach Beth Sullivan was seen sprinting through the stands, then down on the field with the team and a Big Ten network interview. It was a great time to be a Nittany Lion!

The men still had some work to do in their race. Leading Illinois by only 1.5 points, they had to stay close, and not finish more than one place behind the Illini. With Wisconsin and Nebraska well out in front, the localk interest was in the duel with Illinois. Brandon and Bernard Bennett-Green, Byron Robinson and Aaron Nadolsky did what they had to do. They kept Illinois in their sights, finishing 4th to the Illini 3rd, surrendering 1 point but holding on for a team 3rd place overall.

Wow! A Busy 2 days at the SPIRE Institute, but a fun and exciting 2 days. The Lady Lions were on top the medal stand, and the men taking 3rd - I was, as we should all be, very proud of our Alma Mater. What was more impressive was the level that our future alumni competed at, yet they were never cocky or arrogant. It was what we expect to see in a Penn Stater - and they made us proud both on and off the track.

Roar, Lions, Roar!