JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
Former Comets’ standout will compete on scholarship for the Nittany Lions’ indoor and outdoor track and field teams.
One of the most decorated pole vaulters in the history of the Lancaster-Lebanon League will soar to new heights in Happy Valley.
Penn Manor grad Jocelyn Witmer, who owns the District 3 girls’ record with a vault of 12-3, has signed a national letter of intent to continue her scholastic and athletic career at Penn State.
Witmer also considered North Carolina, Arkansas and Richmond. She made visits to PSU and UNC, which both offered scholarship packages.
In the end, Witmer went with Penn State, which also landed another top-shelf L-L League athlete in this year’s recruiting haul:
Conestoga Valley grad Vince McNally, a distance specialist and the reigning Lancaster Newspapers Male Athlete of the Year, also signed with Penn State.
“Penn State is a great school academically, and the track team is awesome,” said Witmer, who won this year’s District 3 Triple-A gold medal with her record vault of 12-3.
“Penn State is the place where I can become the best athlete I know I can be,” she said.
Witmer, who will major in Kinesiology with an emphasis on fitness and athletic training, dominated the pole vault event over the past three years.
She won the league title in her sophomore, junior and senior seasons, she won the district title in her junior and senior seasons, and she finished fourth and fifth in the PIAA Meet, respectively, in the last two years.
Witmer will compete for Penn State’s indoor team in the winter and for the outdoor team in the spring. She said she will not redshirt, and that she’s expecting to step in and compete right away.
Penn State had two pole vaulters on the women’s team this past spring — Caitlin Fairbairn and Rachel NeMoyer — and both will be juniors in the fall.
One of Witmer’s teammates will be former Columbia standout Katie Shelley, who competes in distance running events for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State’s women’s team is coming off a fantastic outdoor season.
Under nine-year coach Beth Alford-Sullivan — the reigning Mid-Atlantic Women’s Coach of the Year — the Nittany Lions won their first Big 10 championship, and the team sent 13 athletes to the NCAA Championships.
Witmer will be working with 14-year veteran assistant Drew Hardyk, Penn State’s pole vault coach. He is the reigning Mid-Atlantic Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year.
Witmer is set to compete in the Nike Outdoor Nationals for the first time this weekend at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, N.C.
After that, she’ll be a full-time Nittany Lion.
“I have no regrets at all with my college decision,” Witmer said. “The coaches at Penn State will push me to be a better athlete, and it will be fun to vault with the girls who are there and to be a part of a great team.”
