Penn State made strides forward on the Madison, Wisconsin Cross Country course at the Big Ten Championships. Both the Men and Women had performances that matched their best in several years. Both performed better than their pre-race predicted finishes.
The women finished 4th with 3 attaining All-Big Ten honors:
The Men placed 6th with Evan Dorenkamp placing 17th
Penn State showed up in fine shape for the return of the Penn Relays 4 x 800M Championships of America. The Women showed everyone what they can do at the big meets by winning the race in splendid fashion. Ohio State put up a good fight, but the deep Lady Lions prevailed in 8:24.49. I am trying to verify the actual order of athletes, but Rachel Gearing, Allison Johnson, Victoria Tachinski and Victoria Vanrielle Victoria Vanriele (2:08.37), Rachel Gearing (2:04.27), Madaline Ullom (2:06.92), and Victoria Tachinski (2:04.95)were listed. This was PSU's second wheel of the meet! (with the Sprint Medley Relay on Friday, another fine performance for 800U) Madeline Ullom is an Ohio hs star coached by teammate Tom Rapp!
Splits in reverse order were: 2:08.37 / 2:04.27 / 2:06.92 / 2:04.95
The Men followed that up with a second place finish to the overwhelming favorite Ole Miss. They were rumored to be eyeing the Penn Relays Record of 7:11.17 of the 1985 Penn State squad, but came up short. Two members of that 85 squad were in the stands enjoying the Carnival; Steve Shisler and Vance Watson. PSU ran to a fine 7:17.86 time, a time that has won quite a few Championships in the past. Listed as running were Olivier Desmeules, Darius Smallwood, Evan Dorenkamp, and Domenic Perretta. Yukichi Ishii, Olivier Desmeules, Darius Smallwood and Domenic Perretta
Splits in reverse order were: 1:48.85 / 1:49.98 / 1:48.67 / 1:50.37
Evan Dorenkamp took the Mens victory as the Men placed second and the Women placed fourth with Freshmen Sophia Toti and Madeline Ullom leading them in 16th and 17th place.
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