This week I will be writing about the second day of the Big Ten Indoor Championships for the Penn State Track and Field team. This took place last weekend on Saturday the 29th. Again, I have very little experience in track and field, but it was still fun to read about Penn State performing well on such a big stage.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbigten.org%2Fnews%2F2019%2F2%2F21%2Fwomens-xc-track-big-ten-indoor-track-field-championships-central.aspx&psig=AOvVaw3dpvj2SuuLBp8rcCVfyHrs&ust=1583380604605000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCIiossf2_-cCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
The Nittany Lions track & field program won four individual Big Ten titles during the second day of competition at the SPIRE Institute this year. Senior captain Danae Rivers won a pair of Big Ten titles in the 800m and mile events to finish off her Big Ten Indoor Championships career.
Rivers made history by becoming the first women’s student-athlete in the Big Ten to win four consecutive 800m titles. Rivers captured her fourth title in the event by running 2:06.27. Rivers pulled away from the field on the back stretch to claim her championship. Earlier in the day, Rivers won the mile title with a time of 4:43.35. Rivers consistent pace allowed her to remain in the front of the pack before she pulled away and won the race by about a second.
Rivers finished her career with six Big Ten indoor titles with her four 800m titles, one mile championship and one in the DMR, or a distance medley relay.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fonwardstate.com%2F2019%2F03%2F09%2Fdanae-rivers-wins-historic-ncaa-indoor-track-field-title%2F&psig=AOvVaw2TH7Gn6D_enPNFALYVP1N_&ust=1583380673365000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCLig-eb2_-cCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
Running in his final Big Ten Indoor Championship, senior captain Billy McDevitt continued the Nittany Lions dominance in the men’s 800m race. McDevitt qualified for the final by running 1:52.17 in last Friday’s qualifying. McDevitt followed up his qualifying time with a personal best time of 1:48.78 to win the men’s 800m race. It was the fifth consecutive title for the Nittany Lions in the men’s 800m and 11th in the last 13 years.
Penn State has won the last eight 800m Big Ten indoor titles between the men’s and the women’s 800m events.
Kiara Lester won the first Big Ten individual title of her career when she ran a personal best of 53.37 in the 400m final.
Lester also placed second in the 4 by 400m relay with a season best time of 3:37.69. The Nittany Lions relay team of Lester, Victoria Tachinski, Amariah Thomas and Antoinette Bradley won the third heat of the event and finished just .01 behind the first-place finishers.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.collegian.psu.edu%2Fsports%2Fdivision_one_sports%2Farticle_0d8f87e4-5a8d-11ea-879b-bb095b57b1d5.html&psig=AOvVaw3Qsl8z8ZEbPtVt7GvSForC&ust=1583380724614000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCODShYH3_-cCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAI
Bradley added to her medal count as she finished third in the women’s 600m final. Bradley’s personal-best time of 1:29.75 gave her the third-place finish and the first individual medal of her Nittany Lion career.
Competing in his first Big Ten Indoor Championship, freshman Sincere Rhea collected his first Big Ten medal with a third place finish in the 60m hurdles. Rhea ran 7.82 in the hurdle finals to win the bronze.
Rhea and the 4x400m relay team of Savion Hebron, Rhea, Gary Ross and Rick Zink also climbed the podium with a seventh-place finish and a time of 3:11.92.
The women’s program finished in third with a final team score of 87.5 points and the men’s team placed ninth with 37 points.
In total, five Nittany Lions earned first team All-Big Ten honors and three earned second-team honors.
Up next, Penn State athletes will be selected for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships March 14-15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico (if anyone wants to go over break).
I always see tons of students walking around with Track & Field backpacks, and after reading this, I am very interested to go see them in action! When I read McDevitt’s 800m race time, I had to reread that to make sure I read it correctly! I feel like I would feel like I was running fast if I ran one lap in that time, let alone two.
It is pretty incredible how fast these students can run. When I read that Rivers ran an 800 in about 2 minutes, I was especially shocked. I cannot even imagine running half a mile that fast.
Penn State has a really solid women’s team this year. I watched some of this event on tv and was pretty amazed by the 800 meter performance especially.
Track and field is always one of my favorite sports to watch at the Olympics so reading about PSU’s team was interesting. There’s actually a girl from my high school who is on the team and I remember her being an absolute beast.