Jan. 18, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.: January 18, 2010 - In recognition of their outstanding performances at last Saturday's PSU Northeast Challenge, senior Fawn Dorr (Akron, N.Y.), and junior Ryan Foster (Tasmania, Australia) have been named Big Ten Track Athletes of the Week. Dorr turned in personal-best and NCAA-provisional qualifying performance individually, and came back to anchor the Nittany Lions' 4x400-meter relay, which also bettered the NCAA provisional standard. Meanwhile, Foster shattered the Penn State 1,000-meter record, on his way to achieving a new Australian national standard.
Dorr, who is the defending Big Ten Indoor Champion at 400-meters, sprinted down the home stretch to earn gold-medal honors against top competition in the quarter mile on Saturday, clocking a PR and provisional-qualifying 53.32. Dorr headlined a talented field that went three deep in NCAA qualifiers, including teammate Shavon GReaves (Lakewood, N.J.), who posted a personal-best 53.64 to finish third on the day. The Nittany Lion duo are currently ranked first and second in the Big Ten 400-meter standings, while Dorr stands second nationally.
Dorr would come back to anchor the Lions' event-winning and NCAA-provisional qualifying 4x400, along with teammates Doris Anyanwu (Beltsville, Md.), Caitlin Defusco (Schwenksville, Pa.) and Greaves. The Lion quartet combined to run a season-best 3:39.13, which ranks first in the conference and third nationally. Dorr's impressive afternoon also included a personal-best effort of 24.16 in the 200-meters to finish second-to-only multiple-time NCAA champion Natasha Hastings of Nike.
Foster - the 2009 indoor and outdoor conference champion at 800-meters - blazed to a school-record 2:19.60 to win the 1000, bettering teammate Samuel Borchers' (Yellow Springs, Ohio) 2:22.42 from 2008. Foster's effort was also a new meet and Ashenfelter facility record, as well as a new Australian national indoor record, breaking Mark Fountain's 2:20.30 set in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2005. The junior narrowly missed the all-time collegiate best of 2:19.57, held by Christian Smith of Kansas State, set in 2006.
The Nittany Lions will take a weekend off before heading into the Penn State National, set for January 29-30 and Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.