Today in Penn State sports: March 16, 2017
A list of all the Nittany Lions games and what you missed today in Penn State sports:
Indoor track
Pair earn yearly Big Ten honors
Penn State sophomore Isaiah Harris was named the Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Year on Thursday, while Danae Rivers was the Big Ten Women’s Freshman of the Year.
Harris finished fourth in the 800-meter race at the NCAA championships and earned All-America honors. He’s the second-ever athlete in the men’s program to earn the honor; the first was Casimir Loxsom in 2013.
Rivers — also an All-American — finished third in the women’s mile at the NCAA championships and helped lift the Nittany Lions to a 10th-place team finish at nationals, the second-highest finish in school history. She’s the third Penn State woman to ever win the award.
Men’s lacrosse
Arceri added to watch list
Penn State freshman Gerard Arceri has been added to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List as lacrosse’s potential player of the year.
Arceri currently leads the country in groundballs per game (10.14) and is second nationally in faceoff win percentage (.688).
The Nittany Lions will take on Fairfield at home at 4 p.m. Friday. With a win, Penn State (7-0) would be off to its best start in program history.
Fencing
10 selected for championships
UNIVERSITY PARK Ten Penn State fencers have been chosen to participate in next week’s 2017 National Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championships in Indianapolis.
Four earned spots in the sabre events, four in the epee and two in the foil.
The sabre participants include Teodora Kakhiani, Karen Chang, Andrew Mackiewicz and Karol Metryka. The epee athletes are seniors Jessica O’Neil-Lyublinsky, Jessie Radanovich, Anton Piskovatskov and Clinton Rodell. Senior Desree Ortega-Furgeson and freshman Jade Rowland will take part in the women’s foil.
The competition will take place March 23-26 and begin at 9 a.m. on the Indiana State Fairgrounds/
Women’s swimming
Trio come up short of finals
INDIANAPOLIS Three Penn State swimmers recorded season-best times Thursday, although none placed better than 20th on the first day of competition at the NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
Ally McHugh placed 20th in the 500 freestyle, while Casey Francis placed 36th and Katelyn Sowinski finished 47th. The top 16 moved on to finals.
The championship meet continues Friday morning.
Men’s basketball
Samuel, Washington to transfer
UNIVERSITY PARK Penn State basketball’s Terrence Samuel and Isaiah Washington will transfer after graduating this summer, the program announced in a news release Thursday.
Samuel played in 28 games this season, averaging 3.9 points and 1.8 assists per game, and Washington averaged five minutes in 17 games.
“We thank Isaiah and Terrence for their time at Penn State and wish them both well moving forward,” Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said in the release.
Samuel, who transferred to Penn State from UConn, averaged 16.7 minutes per game this season, but did not play in five of the team’s final nine games. The junior guard missed the first of those games due to illness, and Chambers said Samuel’s decrease in minutes late in the season was not due to disciplinary issues.
Samuel will have one year of eligibility left, and Washington, a redshirt sophomore from Williamsport, will have two years left in his career.
This story was originally published March 17, 2017 at 12:41 AM with the headline "Today in Penn State sports: March 16, 2017."