March 12, 2009
Postseason Guide
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - With a travel party of 11 athletes, the Nittany Lion track and field teams will make their way to College Station, Texas, this weekend, for the NCAA Indoor Championships, set for March 13-14 on the campus of Texas A&M. Among the Nittany Lion scheduled to compete are NCAA automatic qualifiers Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.) and Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio), as well as the men's
distance medley relay team that recently qualified at the Alex Wilson Invitational, thanks to a school-record run.
Hunter will undoubtedly be one of the athletes to watch this weekend as she enters the meet with the nation's leading score in the pentathlon after finishing fifth in the event last year. Franek - who has set two school records this season -turned in a pair of All-America finishes last year, finishing seventh in the 5000-meters and 10th in the 3000-meters. The junior is set for the same double in 2009 - this time she is seeded fifth in both events.
Also set for individual competiton is senior Aleesha Barber (Decatur, Ga.), who recently set a new Penn State record in the 60-meter hurdles. Barber twice clocked a time of 8.16 seconds at last weekend's Virginia Tech Last Chance, bettering her own school record of 8.19. Barber's PR is tied for the sixth-fastest time in the country this season. The Lions will be well represented in the sprints, with Shavon GReaves (Lakewood, N.J.) qualifying in the 200-meters, and Fawn Dorr (Akron, N.Y.) making the 400-meter field. Greaves and Dorr were both Big Ten Championships individually, as Greaves won the 60 and 200, and Dorr captured the 400 crown. Both Lions were also on the winning 4x400-meter relay, along with Barber and Hunter. The Lions' 4x400 will also look for a big finish this weekend, as the enter the meet as the 10th seed.
On the men's side, Ryan Fritz (Parkesburg, Pa.) will compete in the high jump, following a fifth-place finish at the national meet in 2007. The Nittany Lion men also be represented by Samuel Borchers (Yellow Springs, Ohio), Mike Cadau (Mahanoy City, Pa.), Ryan Foster (Tasmania, Australia), and Tim Johnson (New Cumberland, Pa.) in the DMR.