State College’s Taylor Givens commits to Penn State track and field

In the chaos of an indoor track and field meet at Penn State’s Horace Ashenfelter Track on Thursday night, Taylor Givens was calm and comfortable.

She’s been running on the building’s track and jumping runways for years and, earlier in the day, she made a commitment to keep returning to the facility.

The State College senior announced Thursday morning on Twitter her decision to stay in town with the Nittany Lion track and field program. She will not start on scholarship but said she’ll have the opportunity to earn one.

“I can’t wait to come here,” she said at the facility Thursday evening. “They have a great family vibe here, and all the girls are just super sweet.”

Givens is among the top sprinters and jumpers in Lady Little Lion program history. She qualified for four events at last spring’s PIAA Championships and picked up two medals.

It is easy to be a Penn State fan as a local, going to games of all sorts for years. She even was in Arizona in December for the football team’s Fiesta Bowl win over Washington.

However, dreaming of competing for the Nittany Lions is a lot easier than actually joining the team.

“Freshman year, I didn’t think Penn State was going to look at me at all,” Givens said. “I thought they were going to look at me as just another State High kid. As a junior, they really recruited me, and I fell in love with the campus when I came here for junior day. Talking to one of my teammates that’s on the team, she really changed my whole look on it.”

Givens sees quite a few familiar faces whenever she goes to meets at Penn State. Six State College graduates — three men and three women — are on the Nittany Lions’ roster this year.

For Little Lions assistant coach Artie Gilkes, who guides Givens in the jumps, seeing one of his students commit to the school is extra special. He is a former Nittany Lion athlete and team captain.

“It’s exciting to see multiple kids move on to Penn State to further their education and their athletic endeavors,” Gilkes added. “There’s a lot of pride in that.”

Givens is part of State College school-record-holding relay teams, with both the 400- and 1,600-meter relays. She also is No. 2 on the program’s all-time list in the 100-meter dash and long jump, is fourth in the 200 and sixth in the triple jump. She captured a seventh-place medal in the long jump last spring and a fifth-place medal in the 1,600-meter relay.

Gilkes thinks some big leaps are possible in her future.

“Everything she does she seems to pick up pretty quickly,” Gilkes said. “I’m really excited to see her get to college and see her get more exposure to (different) training methodologies.”

They don’t need to look far for inspiration. Penn State junior and former Little Lion Bryce Williams just broke the school record in the triple jump Saturday, holding the top mark in the event in the nation heading into this weekend’s competitions.

“I hope that Taylor gets some school records for herself at Penn State,” Gilkes said. “I think she’s really, really close to big national-level marks in all the jumps and the sprints.”

Givens plans to study accounting at Penn State and will begin as a walk-on with the program. She chose the school over North Carolina, Wake Forest, Army West Point and Campbell.

She said the Nittany Lion coaches are hoping to turn her into a multi-sport athlete with her versatility, though she admits with her slight stature there will be a lot of work on the horizon to be competitive in throwing events.

“We’re getting there,” Givens said. “I’m tiny, but we’re working with a lot of coaches to help me work on my technique.”

If she needs any pointers or insight before she enrolls in classes on campus, however, she doesn’t have far to look.

Said Givens: “It’s just home away from home for me.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 12:24 AM with the headline "State College’s Taylor Givens commits to Penn State track and field."