June 11, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa - Despite a rain delay that lasted over two hours, the NCAA Track and Field Championships are underway on Wednesday on the campus of Drake University. Senior Shawn Colligan (Bradford, Pa.) - in his first-career NCAA appearance - got things started for the Nittany Lions this morning in the men's decathlon, and now stands 18th overall after five events. Sophomore Fawn Dorr (Akron, N.Y.) had a successful opening round in the 400-meter hurdles, easily advancing to tomorrow's semi-finals.
Dorr came on strong off the last hurdle to finish in 58.19 - the second-fastest performance of her career - and advance to tomorrow's 16-women semi-final. Dorr's effort, which was good for third place in her preliminary heat, was tied for the seventh fastest of the day.
Colligan started the day running 11.28 in the 100-meters - the 16th-best time in the 26-man field - enough for 799 points, before severe thunderstorms delayed the meet. After the layoff, Colligan posted a leap of 20-07.75 (6.29), good for 650 points, before recording an effort of 39-09.25 (12.12) in the shot put - worth 614. Colligan then cleared 6-01.50 (1.87) - his second-highest clearance of the season - in the high jump, adding another 687 points to his total. Colligan ended the day running 49.07 in the 400-meters - the fourth fastest time of the day - accelerating away from the field to win his heat by just under a half a second to gain another 858 points. Colligan ended the day with a total of 3600 points, less than 100 points out of the top 15.
Nittany Lions Emma Schmelzer (Bloomington, Ill.), Shana Cox (Westbury, N.Y.), Dominique Blake (Bronx, N.Y.), Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.), and Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio) are slated to compete this evening.