Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/797655
TRACK & FIELD Penn State women claim Big Ten indoor championship Ten Freshman of the Week honors four weeks in a row. But while O'Keefe has been making headlines, the Nittany Lions are hardly a one-man show. Sophomore Grant Ament had 14 goals and a team- high 14 assists through five games, while senior attackman Nick Aponte had six goals and was recently named to the Tewaaraton Award watch list for the sec- ond season in a row. At the other end of the field, freshman Colby Kneese has emerged as the team's top goaltender with a .485 save percentage coming out of the game against Penn. With an abundance of talent on hand, Tambroni is feeling good about Penn State's future. The Nittany Lions, who were ranked third in the preseason Big Ten coaches' poll, are hoping to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013. They had the look of a tournament contender last season, espe- cially after a 15-10 victory over No. 1 Den- ver, but then lost four of their last five and ended the season at 8-7. Now, they are eager to use that experi- ence as a stepping stone leading to bigger and better things this spring. "There's just a great deal of excitement as we con- tinue the journey," Tambroni said. "We'll hope to build off of last year's season and some near misses and hopefully get over the hump this year." ■ Penn State enjoyed a historic weekend last month, as the Nittany Lion women won their fourth Big Ten indoor track and =eld title, while the men's team recorded its best =nish by taking second place at the league championship meet Feb. 24-25 in Geneva, Ohio. The women's Big Ten championship, paired with the men's second-place performance, is the highest combined =nish in Penn State track and =eld his- tory. The indoor title was the =rst for the Nittany Lion women since 2014, a year in which they won both the indoor and outdoor titles. The second-place =nish for the men was the team's highest ever at the indoor championships, topping the third-place e>orts in 2013 and '14. Dannielle Gibson captured the women's triple jump title with her mark of 43 feet, 4 inches to become only the second Penn State athlete to win the event at the conference meet. The =rst was Chi-Chi Aduba, who won in 2003 with a mark of 44-1.50. In the women's 800-meter race, true freshman Danae Rivers led from begin- ning to end, =nishing in 2 minutes, 6.10 seconds to earn her second Big Ten championship of the weekend. Rivers was also part of the Lions' victorious distance medley relay team. On the men's side, Xavier Smith repre- sented Penn State in the 60-meter =nal and brought the title to Happy Valley for the =rst time in school history, =nishing in a time of 6.66 seconds. Smith lowered his school record from the previous mark of 6.68 seconds set last season at the Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. Isaiah Harris, the Big Ten indoor and outdoor defending champion, as well as a 2016 All-American and USATF Olympic Trials =nalist in the 800-meter race, defended his title by bringing home the gold for Penn State in 1 minute, 47.23 seconds. Alongside Harris at the medal podium was true freshman Domenic Perretta, who ran his way to a bronze medal in the event with his time of 1:48.49. With the win by Harris, Penn State has now claimed eight out of the past 10 800-meter titles dating back to 2007 when Mark Miller won in a time of 1:52.65. A@er the meet, Penn State's John Gondak was named Big Ten Women's Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year. Gondak is in his third season as head coach. Eleven Penn State athletes quali=ed for the NCAA indoor championships March 10-11 in College Station, Texas. ■ WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS Thompson dismissed as Lions' coach Head coach Je> Thompson was =red Feb. 26, two days before Penn State's =nal home meet of the year against Pitt. Thompson, who was in his seventh season with the women's gymnastics program, has been replaced on an in- terim basis by assistant coaches Kera Molinaro and Josh Nilson. Athletic director Sandy Barbour did not elaborate on the reasons for Thompson's dismissal. In a news re- lease, Penn State said that because the move was a personnel matter, university o?cials would have no further comment. The program had come under scrutiny in recent months a@er a number of former Penn State gym- nasts complained about what they described as a negative environment that had been created by Thompson and his wife, Rachelle Thompson, an assistant coach with the team. Rachelle Thompson resigned her position last June, but Je> Thompson continued in his role as head coach until last month. Penn State said it will conduct a national search for a new coach. ■