Penn State's women's indoor track took another positive step to defending its Big Ten championship Saturday at the Penn State Women's Open held at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.
The Nittany Lions performed well across the board in the non-scoring meet against the West Virginia Mountaineers from the Big East.
Helping the Lions in their quest to repeat is volunteer coach and professional track athlete GiGi Miller, the 2001 NCAA champion in the triple jump while on the Arkansas team.
Miller not only helps to coach Penn State, but also provides motivation on the actual track by competing against the Lions as an unattached runner.
On Saturday, Miller, though just in a training mode, provided a high-caliber competitor for Penn State's young athletes. Freshman Gayle Hunter finished a close second to Miller in the long jump, launching herself 5.65 meters. Miller finished with a jump of 5.68 meters.
Afterward, Hunter did not look at Miller as her opponent in the long jump.
"It was fun," Hunter said. "I didn't look at it like 'Oh, I'm an inch behind [Miller],' or anything like that. I just looked at it as 'GiGi's my coach. She's jumping trying to get ready for her professional meets.' "
Sophomore Kamilah Salaam also found herself lining up against Miller in the 55-meter dash. Just like Hunter, Salaam finished second to Miller with a time of 7.11 seconds. Miller clocked in with a time of 7.04 seconds.
Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan looks at having Miller compete as motivation for her team.
"GiGi has international world championship experience," Alford-Sullivan said. "Her composure and ability to prep for competition is outstanding, and those athletes, you know, just kind of tag on to that and get this opportunity to run up against her. We look at the young kids as having an opportunity to be around athletes of that caliber and learn from that."
When not competing against Miller, the Lions shined.
Penn State dominated West Virginia in the 200-meter dash with the top four spots filled by the Lions. Salaam (24.45 seconds) won the event.
In the high jump, Penn State sophomore Amber Strouse won with a jump of 1.70 meters. Again, Penn State's Jennifer Leatherman paced all throwers, winning both the weight throw and shot-put events.
So far, Alford-Sullivan is happy with her young team's performances.
"There's a lot of pressure on a team that is coming in with a lot of expectations," Alford-Sullivan said. "We want to win the Big Ten. We have a hard competition to do so, and our athletes have that weight on their shoulders."
