Saturday might have been the most gorgeous day State College has ever seen in January, but, if so, the largest collection of athletes on campus had no idea.
The Multi-Sport Facility was filled with hundreds of the NCAA's best track and field competitors from dozens of schools, all competing in the Penn State National Open Friday and Saturday.
The Penn State men's track and field team didn't exactly come out of the gate on fire Friday, with only two top-three finishes. Chris Nirschel finished third place in the 5,000-meter run, and Scott Vernon landed second place in the 35-pound weight throw with a toss that met NCAA Championship provisional qualifying standards at 62-7.
The brightest spot for the Lions after the first day of competition was Chris Morrisey, who led the heptathlon with 2915 points. He wrapped up a first-place finish Saturday morning and was just six points from an NCAA provisional qualifying score with 5,194 points.
Morrisey, only in his first year of eligibility and usually a decathlete competing in his first heptathlon, was reluctant to give himself enough credit Saturday evening, claiming he was just happy to come out and win. Asked about how close he was to an automatic qualifying score, Morrisey showed his determination to hit the necessary mark.
"I will definitely get it," he said, claiming all he needed was "better competition, like Big Tens" to push him to the necessary score. Morrisey also said that if the event had been scored for teams, there would have been even more incentive and he could have possibly performed at an even higher level.
Saturday afternoon saw seven Penn State athletes finish in the top three in their events. Caleb Hood ran to a first-place finish in the 600-meter at 1:21.87, and Steve Meyers won the shot put with a throw of 58-8.
The Lions took two-thirds of the podium in the high jump, as Ryan Fritz and Tyler Fedeli both cleared 6-10 to finish second and third.
Two of the relay teams grabbed third-place finishes including a makeshift 4x400-meter team. Anchor leg Ernie Terrell pulled up in the 400 meter earlier in the day with a leg injury and was unable to compete in the relay. Mark Miller stepped in and anchored the third place team with Steve Morgan, Adam Stanowick and Hood as they ran the race in 3:15.87.
Michael Syrnick, Tim Johnson, Michael Malazia and Dan Michael also finished third in the 4x800-meter relay at 7:49.64.
Penn State men's track and field coach Harry Groves, aware of what his team has ahead, knows what this weekend's meet and the relay meet two weeks ago are really all about.
Weeks ago, Groves said each of the first few meets "represents a stepping stone," on the way to the Big Ten Championships and is a chance to evaluate progress. So despite the many top finishes from his team, Groves was seemingly more pleased with his team's progression and potential.
"You find where your holes are and some stuff we need to work on," he said. "Got some guys that just don't understand that racing is catching up with the leader and trying to stay there. Taking off in the back and trying to catch up, you just can't do that."
When asked to summarize his and his team's feelings about the meet, Groves, neither ecstatic nor displeased, shrugged and smiled. "Satisfied," he said.
