Women’s Day 1 Recap
The Michigan State Spartans stole the show at the SPIRE Institute Friday evening during Day 1 of the Big Ten Championships. It all started with Rachele Schulist nabbing 10 points with her win in the 3000m. The redshirt sophomore took the lead from the gun and won in commanding fashion with a personal-best 9:01.25. “I wanted to make it honest and run a fast time,” Schulist said. She led the small pack of Wisconsin’s Sarah Disanza and Penn State’s Tori Gerlach, the 2014 champion in the event, until dropping a hammer and never looking back for the last three laps. Disanza (9:16.06) and Gerlach (9:17.39) finished second and third, respectively.

Following Schulist’s huge win, the Spartan team of Katie Landwehr, Tori Franklin, Aubrey Wilberding, and Leah O’Connor took the victory away from the Michigan Wolverines in dramatic fashion. The University of Michigan had won 11-straight distance medley relays at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. The team of Shannon Osika, Chinyere Onimo, Danielle Pfeifer, and Brook Handler tried for 12-straight but came up short, finishing in 11:02.57. The Wolverines’ 800m leg, Pheifer, ran an excellent race, separating herself from Wisconsin, who was then in second-place. She handed off to Handler with a comfortable 8 second lead over Michigan State, who was then in the third position. But with a 4:25 mile split, O’Connor reeled in the Wolverines for the Spartan victory. Their time is #2 in the NCAA, while Michigan retained their sixth spot.

In the field events, Illinois’ Stephanie Richartz, the NCAA #3 ranked pole vaulter, won her fourth Big Ten Title with a season best 4.39m. Four Minnesota ladies contributed 16 points to the Gophers score in the pentathlon. Jess Herauf won with 4361 points, while her teammates Alex Beckman, Audra Winter, and Amanda Beckman finished 6-7-8. Herauf’s mark is the fourth-best in the NCAA. Kelsey Card of Wisconsin took the shot put title in 17.13m, almost 2 meters better than the runner-up, and the fifth-best NCAA throw in 2015. Wisconsin sits in first place after the first day with 31 points.

Men’s Day 1 Recap
What Michigan State did on the ladies’ side, Penn State copied on the men’s side. Robby Creese took the first running final of the championships in the 3000m with a winning time of 8:10.75. It was a close pack for a majority of the race with Creese in the front, joined by Morgan McDonald and Malachy Schrobilgen of Wisconsin and Mason Ferlic of Michigan. The group kicked hard but couldn’t hold off Creese’s mile speed. McDonald and Ferlic finished second and third in 8:11.67 and 8:12.48, respectively. Creese will return for the the mile final tomorrow, and possibly the 5000m.

The Nittany Lions kept it going in the distance medley relay. The team of Jordan Makins, Alex Chiseler, Za’Von Watkins, and Brannon Kidder won in 9:40.62. Even more impressive? This was Kidder’s third race after advancing to the finals of the mile and 600m earlier in the day. Penn State sits in second place as a team after day one and will be well represented in the finals tomorrow.

Michigan State’s Tim Ehrhardt won the pole vault title in 5.37m. His mark tied runner-up Steven Cahoy of Nebraska but Ehrhardt took the win with less misses. The Cornhuskers scored 15 points in the pole vault with Cahoy, Craig Driver in fourth, and Christian Sanderfer in sixth. Ehrhardt is also competing in the heptathlon and sits in second-place after day 1. Darrell Hill continued his dominance in the shot put by winning in 20.27m, securing 10 valuable points for PSU.