Danae Rivers again solidified her Freshman season as one for the ages in the first track event of the final day of competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Having already run a heated prelim in the Mile and a leading 1200M leg in the Distance Medley Relay the night before, one would think she would be sluggish at the start of the Mile Saturday.
But you would be wrong, as Danae led the Mile in the early stages, obviously going for broke in the event with several favorites seeded ahead of her. She held on and even had a very fine final 150M to place 3rd in the event! That tops by one place for the best finish in the event in PSU history by a friend and great Nittany Lion Patty Murnane in 1982. Time flies, Patty, but I remember those days like they were yesterday.
| 1. |  | Karisa NELSON | JR | Samford | 4:31.24 | ||||||
| 2 |  | Elinor PURRIER | JR | New Hampshire | 4:31.88 | ||||||
| 3 |  | Danae RIVERS | FR | Penn State | 4:33.89 |
And another All-American finish was accomplished by Triple Jumper Danielle Gibson, who bettered her 12th seed in the event with an 8th place finish, scoring one point for the Lions. That gave the Women's team a tie for 10th place nationally with Stanford (where emeritus Energizer Lion Jess Riden now abodes).
| 8. | | Dannielle GIBSON | SR | Penn State | 13.23m (43-5 ) |
Finally, Isaiah Harris raced against the current Freshman sensation Emmanuel Korir of UTEP. Previously, Isaiah had eclipsed the 600M Collegiate record from Korir at the Penn State National meet where Casimir Loxsom had set the World's Best indoor mark of all time.
This time out, Isaiah ran a fine race but didn't have enough to stay with Korir at the finish, letting 2 others nip him at the wire. His fourth-place finish was the best at the Indoor Championships since Loxsom's runner-up finish in 2012.
| 1. |  | Emmanuel KORIR | FR | UTEP | 1:47.48 | ||||||
| 2 |  | Drew PIAZZA | SR | Virginia Tech | 1:47.62 | ||||||
| 3 |  | Joseph WHITE | JR | Georgetown | 1:47.79 | ||||||
| 4 | | Isaiah HARRIS | SO | Penn State | 1:47.94 |
Two other events saw close-but-no-cigar attempts at All-American status. Tessa Barrett doubled back from her 5th place finish in the 5000M to place 10th in the 3000M. And the Mens 4 x 400M Relay squad finished in 10th also. Notable among the stats was a 45.72 split by Xavier Smith, my current favorite meme of the blog.
| 10. | Tessa BARRETT | SO | Penn State | 9:16.50 |
| 10. | | PENN STATE | Penn State | 3:07.43 |
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