From the inaugural Big Ten/SEC Challenge meet, a few stereotypes could be formed about both conferences. The Big Ten might have the advantage in the throwing areas, but the Southeastern Conference is better at pretty much everything else.
This past weekend, the SEC beat the Big Ten in by a score of 379-310. In this meet's format, women's track and field conference rivals Penn State, Minnesota and Wisconsin made up one team, which then competed against a squad made up of NCAA indoor track and field champion Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky.
"The competition was tight until the last hour or two," Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "The Blue and White went out and competed well today."
The Nittany Lions did all they could to keep the meet close throughout. On the first day of competition, junior Jennifer Leatherman pulled out a victory in the hammer throw with a personal record throw of 195 feet, 5 inches. Leatherman won the event on her final throw, surpassing teammate and senior throws captain Kate Johnston, who finished second with a mark of 192 feet, 11 inches.
On the second day the Big Ten continued to dominate the throws when senior Kristen Eash finished second with a mark of 145 feet, 4 inches. Junior Diana Bruch placed third. Golden Gopher freshman Ruby Radocaj placed first.
The problem was that in the condensed time format of the competition, the final hours of competition were mostly sprints, jumps and hurdles, events which Tennessee and South Carolina controlled. Tennessee sophomore Tianna Madison started the second day of the meet by winning the long jump competition with a world-leading mark of 22 feet, 4.5 inches.
"The SEC is really good in the sprints and hurdles," Alford-Sullivan said. "The [SEC] has some tremendous athletes. But our athletes competed very well in a very short amount of time."
Freshman Shana Cox and Dominique Blake supplied a bright spot with in the 400-meters. Cox finished first and Blake finished second with regional qualifying times of 53.77 and 53.91 seconds, respectively.
But an example of the SEC's dominance came in the 100-meters where the Gamecocks finished first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth. The Lady Volunteers wrapped up a sweep by finishing third, and the Lions were only able to squeeze out seventh with junior Sara Shoaff and eighth with sophomore Kamilah Salaam.
The rest of the Big Ten was unable to place much at all against SEC competition. Alford-Sullivan was still very impressed with her team's performance. While not everyone had the best day, the effort was still there.
"We had some rough spots where some people didn't have the greatest day, but that's why you have a team," Alford-Sullivan said.
A crucial member joining the team for the first time this season was senior distance captain Molly Landreth. Cox and Landreth both had sat out every meet of the outdoor season up to this point. While Cox finished first in her event, Landreth finished fourth in the 3,000 meters with time of 9:56.19.
"It was a great warm-up for [Landreth]," Alford-Sullivan said. "She ran in her comfort zone and didn't front the pace, so we were happy with her performance."
Most of all, Penn State enjoyed an inside look at its competition in the Big Ten. While competing on the same side as Wisconsin and Minnesota, Alford-Sullivan liked what she saw out of her squad.
"It was a good preview of the Big Ten, and we held our own," Alford-Sullivan said. "We had a good day for Penn State."
But thankfully because of geographic location, the Lions don't have to worry about stacking up to anyone in the SEC, at least for now.
