Feb. 27, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Paced by a runner-up finish in the 3000 meters by senior Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio), Penn State finished Day One of the Big Ten Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships in sixth with 21 points. With runners in every track final but one Sunday, the Nittany Lions have poised themselves to make a run at the program's second-ever Big Ten Indoor title. Defending champion Minnesota currently leads with 41 points, while Illinois (37) and Purdue (36) are in second and third.
Three meet records were set Saturday, including Penn State sophomore Shavon Greaves' (Lakewood, N.J.) blistering 23.13 in the women's 200 meters. Greaves' time is second in the NCAA this year and is also a facility record. The sophomore led a pack of speedy Nittany Lions in the event, with four of the top five times in the 200 amongst the fastest of the day. In addition to Greaves' NCAA Automatic, senior Fawn Dorr (Akron, N.Y.) and junior Caitlin Defusco (Schwenksville, Pa.) ran to NCAA Provisional times. Freshman Doris Anyanwu (Beltsville, Md.) finished fifth fastest and all four times were personal bests in the event.
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Freshman Kelsey Couts (Powell, Ohio) got the Nittany Lions' first point of the day when she took eighth in the pentatlon. Penn State then got six points in the pole vault when senior Caitlin Fairbairn (Coatesville, Pa.) finished fifth with a height of 3.95 meters (12-11.50), earning four points, and sophomore Jocelyn Witmer (Millersville, Pa.) finished seventh to grab the Nittany Lions another two.
In the 3000 meters, Franek fought off Illinois' Angela Bizzarri for most of the race before finishing just behind her fellow All-American with Bizzari crossing the line in 9:10.16 and Franek in 9:10.68. Senior Jessica Babcock (Irvine, Calif.) added another point to Franek's eight in the event, bringing the Nittany Lions' total to 16.
In the last event of the day, the distance medley relay of sophomore Caitlin Lane (Greenwich, N.Y.), freshman Doris Anyanwu (Beltsville, Md.), junior Elizabeth Kearins (Doylestown, Pa.) and senior Cheryl Spring (The Woodlands, Texas) grabbed a fourth place finish in a time of 11:26:40 to add another five points to PSU's tally to bring it to a 21-point first day total.
Two additional meet records were broken, the first in the shot put when Illinois' Aja Evans threw for a distance of 17.08 meters (56-00.50). In the pole vault, Minnesota's posted a Big Ten meet-record 4.35 meters (14-03.25).
Big Ten Women's Track & Field action continues tomorrow at the Horace Ashenfelter Indoor Track at the Multi-Sport Complex on Penn State's campus. The day begins with the high jump at 11 a.m.