After traveling entirely across the country, senior All-American Jennifer Leatherman showed her West-Coast competition why she is one of the most feared throwers in the East. With nothing short of a dominating performance, Leatherman took home first-place finishes in all three of her events: the hammer, the shot put and the discus.
Her victories as well as contributions from many of her teammates were not enough to pull out a win, however, as the Penn State women's track and field team finished second at the Pepsi Team Invitational meet this Saturday at Oregon. Scoring 199 points, they finished only four points behind the winner, Oregon, in the first scored meet of the Nittany Lions' outdoor season.
The Lions competed at legendary Hayward Field in front of a packed crowd. Penn State women's track and field head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said about 5,000 fans were on hand to watch the meet. The Lions thrived in the exciting atmosphere and the pressure of competing in a scored meet.
"We had a tremendous experience," Alford-Sullivan said. "It was just excellent competition. Our kids rose to occasion and ran for the program. It was one of the best meets we've had."
Leading the Lions' weekend highlight reel, Leatherman not only won each of her events, but she also broke the seven-year meet record in the hammer throw with her mark of 205-5 feet. Each of her throws in the hammer, the shot put and the discus qualified her for the regional championship.
Equally impressive was fellow indoor All-America sophomore sprinter Shana Cox. She won both the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.27 seconds and the 400-meter dash with 53.50 seconds. Her time in the 400, an event that she has dominated this year, was a regional qualifying mark.
"I was happy to get it out of the way, a lot of times it can be stressful to have that," Cox said of qualifying for nationals. "Now I can concentrate on other things like improving my race."
Adding to the list of Lions who will be making a trip to the regional championships, senior sprinter Sara Shoaff qualified in the 100-meter dash with a second-place finish of 11.4 seconds. Junior Briene Simmons also finished with a qualifying mark of 2:07.61 in the 800-meter dash. Junior hurdlers Kim Markel and Kamilah Salaam also qualified for regionals in their events.
Distance runner Molly Landreth qualified for regionals in the steeplechase with a time of 10:43.18, and freshman thrower Emma Schlmelzer qualified in the discus with a throw of 155-9 feet. To finish the impressive weekend, the 4x400 relay team also qualified for regionals with their winning time of 3:38.52.
"Across the board everyone had a great performance," Alford-Sullivan said. "The team came together and really rose to the occasion."
Competing against the West-Coast teams of Oregon, Washington and Boise State, Penn State showed that it is not just a force in the East, but truly a force across the nation.
