Ann Arbor, MI. – This past weekend all Big Ten Ten track and field teams gathered and competed in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 71 events. Although there were a few days of rough weather including high winds, all events were able to go off without a hitch.
After some great competition, the Nebraska men’s team won with 136 points for the second year in a row. One of the major events won by Nebraska was by Junior Tyus Williams in the men’s high jump with a jump of 2.79 meters, or 7 feet 6 inches, a record-setting jump. That mark leads the NCAA and moves him to third on the all-time list.
Nebraska men’s won by 50 points over second-place Iowa. Wisconsin finished third with 78 points, host Michigan finished fourth with 72 points while Indiana finished 5th with 66 points.
For the women the Gophers of Minnesota finished first with 131 points followed by Nebraska with 115.33 points. The Huskers finished with .33 of a point over Ohio State. Fourth place was Illinois with 96 points while Penn State took fifth with 78 points.
The Gophers clinched their fourth conference title when their 4×400-meter relay team of Jayla Campbell, Janielle Josephs, Borroke Jaworski, and Abigail Schaafe won by .01 seconds at 3:33.34 over a very fast Ohio State team anchored by Chanler Robinson. It was a photo finish in the race.
Ohio State was very dominant in sprints, winning the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay on Sunday. Robinson moved up to fourth in program history with a PR of 57.20 as she was the runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles. The women’s 4×100 relay squad (Fatouma Conde, Nya Bussey, Columba Effiong, Leah Bertrand) secured the Big Ten Championship for the fifth year in a row with a season-best time of 43.44 to rank fifth in program history. Bertrand defended her Big Ten outdoor 100m title by running a season-best 11.16. Conde claimed the Big Ten 200m championship with a PR (22.91) that ranks fifth in program history.
The Penn State Nittany Lions Women’s team had an outstanding day also. Hayley Kitching captured gold in the 800 meter and Florence Caron also did in the 5K. Caron completed one of the most difficult doubles in track & field, winning the 5K just two days after she took home the title in the 10K. In over nine miles of sheer dominance through the weekend, Caron became the first Penn State woman ever to win titles in the 5K and 10K in a career, let alone a championship weekend.
Kitching clocked a Big Ten Championships meet record of 2:02.54 to earn the win in the 800-meters. The sophomore completed the indoor-outdoor 800-meter sweep with her title on Sunday afternoon. This was Penn State’s second-best total in the past six seasons.
Next up for the Big Ten Conference, each school will be taking a contingent of athletes to the NCAA East Region Preliminaries in Lexington, Kentucky March 22-25.
