A pair of Hempfield alums were crowned conference champions at the NCAA Division I level Saturday.
Penn State grad student Maddie Holmberg won the heptathlon at the Big Ten Championships in Champaign, Ill., while DePaul sophomore Mackenna Orie won the shot put title at the Big East Championships in Geneva, Ohio.
Holmberg, Penn State’s first champion in the event in seven years, won with a score of 5,839 points. She finished first in the long jump (6.16 meters) and the 200-meter dash (24.5 seconds), took second in the shot put (13.35 meters) and 800 (2:15.11), was fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (13.7) and javelin (35.73), and finished seventh in the high jump (1.62).
Orie, whose winning throw was 15.10 meters, also finished second in the discus and took sixth in the hammer throw on the way to being named the Big East Women’s Field Athlete of the Meet.
GOLD! ?
— Penn State Track & Field/Cross Country (@PennStateTFXC) May 15, 2021
Maddie Holmberg wins the women's heptathlon with a score of 5839. She is Penn State's first heptathlon champion since 2014 ? #WeAre pic.twitter.com/YxNYCNLS1o
? @maddieholmberg #WeAre | #B1GTF pic.twitter.com/7UZHZjaIqi
— Penn State Track & Field/Cross Country (@PennStateTFXC) May 15, 2021
A ? in the Shot Put & Women’s Field Athlete of the Meet ?
— DePaul XC/TF (@DePaulXCTF) May 16, 2021
MacKenna Orie did some damage in Geneva this weekend ? pic.twitter.com/ZXCAAqXfCB
