Five New Nittany Lion All-Americans!

Tessa Barrett made good in her return to NCAA Championship action at the Indoor National Championships.  The Sophomore ran with the lead pack and finished in a fine 5th place, garnering 4 points for the Womens team.

	1..	Karissa SCHWEIZER	JR	Missouri	15:19.14
2		Erin FINN	JR	Michigan	15:27.36
3		Anna ROHRER	SO	Notre Dame	15:29.83
4		Allie BUCHALSKI	JR	Furman	15:41.69
5		Tessa BARRETT	SO	Penn State	15:42.29

And to finish the night, the Womens DMR team bettered their 10th place seed by finishing in 6th place.  Three more points for the Women! (Danae Rivers, Tichina Rhodes, Rachel Banks, Julie Kocjancic)

1.		COLORADO		Colorado	11:00.34
2		STANFORD		Stanford	11:00.36
3		OREGON		Oregon	11:00.68
4		BYU		BYU	11:03.42
5		MICHIGAN		Michigan	11:04.74
6		PENN STATE		Penn State	11:04.89

It's Still Indoor Season Really: Awards And Coveted Entries At Nationals

Coach John Gondak, who I have been fortunate enough to call a friend since his arrival at PSU, was just named the Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year for Mens Indoor Track.  In his first season, John has brought some needed energy into the program, and not just in his natural coaching position of Middle
Distance tutelage.  I spoke with some athletes at the recent Sykes and Sabock Challenge, and across all disciplines of the sport, he was praised by everyone.  There are some exciting times ahead for all of us invested in PSU Track and Field.

And let's not forget about Darrell Hill's Field Athlete of the Year also.  We've kept up with his progress quite well on this blog.  For some reason, I really enjoy his Shot Put event despite it being the farthest from my limited wheel house. Can I call what I did a wheel house?

Entries to the Indoor NCAA Nationals (this year in Fayetteville, Arkansas) are always limited to the top 16 times or distances or performances.  PSU has quite a few entries, however.  The 3rd ranked Shot Put of Darrel Hill, the 2nd place Distance Medley team and the 3rd ranked Mile of Brannon Kidder lead the pack.

• Darrel Hill,   Shot Put    -3rd seed      67' 3.50"  School Record
• Robby Creese,  3000M     -8th seed    7:50.36    School Record
• Brannon Kidder,  Mile     -3rd seed     3:57.13  School Record (3 readers pointed out that Robby Creese's 3:57.11 is the school record.  Thanks to all! You guys are the best.
• Brian Leap,  Triple Jump   -13th sed   52' 6.75"
• Mens Distance Medley Relay -  Brannon Kidder, Robert Rhodes, Za'Von Watkins and Robby Creese   9:28.36   2nd seed
• Rachel Fatherly   Shot Put  -13th seed   55' 5.75"
• Rachel Fatherly   Weight Throw   -14th seed   69' 2"
• Womens 4 x 400M Relay  Megan Osborne, Dynasty McGee, Tichina Rhodes, Kiah Seymour 11th seed   3:34.90
• Kiah Seymour, 400M  14th seed   52.72

And it just doesn't seem like Outdoor Track Season yet.  My high school Freshman daughter has only had 2 practices so far, one of them indoors and the other one on the road doing hills. Here are my Nike snow boots I originally purchased in the early 90's.  I had to dig them out for some shoveling this week.  I hate them a lot.  But I love the throwback Nike Internationalists in the background!

Big Ten Event Winners

Congratulations to the following Nittany Lion event winners at the Big Ten Championships.
Full results here

Steve Waithe -  Triple Jump

Darrell Hill - Shot Put

Michael Shuey - Javelin

Brittney Howell - Heptathlon

Melissa Kurzdorfer - Javelin

Kiah Seymour - 400 meter hurdles

Mahagony Jones - 200 meter dash

Dynasty McGee, Mahagony Jones, Tichina Rhodes, Kiah Seymour - 4x400 meter relay

For most the season and competition year are officially over. For those still with a shot at qualifying for NCAA's, that opportunity comes in two weeks at the NCAA East Regional meet on May 29-31.

All-American Honors

Congratulations are in order for the All-American honors earned this past weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

          First Team All-American:
          Will Barr                35 lb weight throw 
          Mahagony Jones   200 meter dash       
          Brittney Howell     pentathlon, 4x400 meter relay             
          Steve Waithe          triple jump            
          Kiah Seymour       400 meter dash, 4x400 meter relay  
          Za'von Watkins     800 meter run
          Dynasty McGee     4x400 meter relay
          Tichina Rhodes     4x400 meter relay    

          Second Team All-American:
          Evonne Britton      60 meter hurdles
          Jon Hendershot     high jump
          Wade Endress       distance medley relay
          Za'von Watkins    distance medley relay
          Brannon Kidder   800 meter run, distance medley relay
          Robby Creese        distance medley relay