UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State track & field team competed in its first event of the 2023 indoor season when it took the track at the Nittany Lion Challenge on Saturday.
The Nittany Lions tied a program record, set two international records, and achieved many personal bests throughout the course of the competition. The Nittany Lions also had multiple NCAA top-five performances in a fantastic outing for the team to begin competition in 2023.
“It was a solid start to the season for Penn State Track & Field,” head coach John Gondak said. “We had some really good things happen today, including a school record by [Cecelia Bacon] on the high jump, and some other extremely impressive performances. Looking forward to getting on the road next week down at Virginia Tech and continuing to improve and see how we respond in week two of the season.”
NITTANY LIONS IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Highlighting the day’s historic events was Bacon’s program record-tying effort in the high jump. Her 1.83m/6-0 effort tied Alexa Parks (2020) for the indoor record at Penn State.
Additionally, two international records fell today, both in the men’s 1,000m run. Yukichi Ishii set a new Japanese national indoor record with a 2:21.99, followed by Handal Roban’s St. Vincent & the Grenadines national indoor record-breaking 2:24.08.
EVENT SUMMARY
Penn State began its day with an event victory in the women’s mile run, with Faith DeMars posting a 4:47.19 to win the event. Sophia Toti finished right behind DeMars with a personal-best 4:48.14, giving the Nittany Lions their first 1-2 finish of the day.
The women’s shot put wrapped up next, as NCAA No. 1 Mallory Kauffman earned another event victory for Penn State. Multi-event athlete Maddie Pitts also competed in the shot put for Penn State, recording a personal-best 10.38m/34-0.75 throw.
In the men’s mile, Christopher DeSousa (4:12.42, 6th), Hayden Healey (4:13.95, 8th), and Behailu Bekele-Arcuri (4:17.45, 12th) all competed in the event for the first time, building a solid foundation for the upcoming season.
Tesia Thomas finished second overall with a 5.60m/18-4.5 effort, with freshman Shannon Mullin (5.46m/17-11) slotting in at fifth for the Nittany Lions.
In the 600m, Penn State took second behind a 1:32.16 by Victoria Vanriele on the women’s side and it claimed third on…
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