Feb. 15, 2010
Franek - Post Race Interview by Flotrack.org
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.: February 15, 2010 - After punching her ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships last weekend, senior Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio) has earned Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week honors, announced by the conference on Monday. Franek impressed in the 5,000-meters at the Husky Classic at the University of Washington, clocking a career best and NCAA automatic qualifier. The award is the fifth-career Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week citation for the decorated Nittany Lion senior.
Franek cruised to a personal-best 15:56.76 in the 5K, missing the Penn State record by just over three seconds. Her efforts were good for third in a sensational field in Seattle, which would yield 23 NCAA qualifying performances, including eight athletes under the NCAA automatic standard. Franek's time, which is the best in the Big Ten this year, is also the fourth best in the country behind Lisa Koll of Iowa State (15:29.65), Nicole Blood of Oregon (15:51.59), and Jackie Areson of Tennessee (15:53.54). Thanks to her automatic run, Franek is now set for her 11th-straight appearance at the NCAA Championships, spanning cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field.
Franek headlined a host of outstanding 5K performances from the Nittany Lions, including classmate Cheryl Spring (The Woodlands, Texas), who shaved nearly 20 seconds off her previous best in the event to run a provisional-qualifying 16:22.30 - a top 20 performance nationally. The Lions also got PR efforts from Kara Millhouse (Boiling Springs, Pa.) and Brooklyne Ridder (Cincinnati, Ohio), who ran 16:47.63, and 17:08.74, respectively. On the men's side, sophomore Kyle Dawson (Coatesville, Pa.) posted a provisional-qualifying 14:07.56 for 5,000.
The Lions will take the weekend off before heading into the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships, set for February 27-28. The Nittany Lion men will travel to the University of Minnesota, while the women are slated to host the meet at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.