April 25, 2010
PHILADELPHIA: April 24, 2010 - Paced by top four finishes in Championship of America sections by the men's 4x800-meter relay and the women's 4x400-meter relay, the Nittany Lion track and field squads wrapped up a full three days of action at the 116th running of the Penn Relays, Saturday at Franklin Field. Senior Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio) continued to leave her mark in the Penn State record books, breaking the 30-year old school record in the women's mile run, while the women's 4x200-meter squad also turned in a Penn State record performance on their way to an ECAC victory.
In one of the deepest 4x800 fields in recent memory, the Nittany Lion quartet of junior Owen Dawson (Coatesville, Pa.), freshman Casimir Loxsom (New Haven, Conn.), junior Lionel Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.) and junior Ryan Foster (Tasmania, Australia) combined to record a third-place finish overall with a season-best effort of 7:17.02 - the fourth-fastest performance in school history. Virginia outlasted a furious three-man battle down the homestretch, winning in 7:15.38, to nose Oregon (7:15.55). Loxsom turned heads with an impressive second leg, splitting 1:46.58 - the fastest readout of the afternoon.
Senior Aleesha Barber (Decatur, Ga.) led things off on the Lions' fourth-place 4x400, with junior Shavon Greaves (Lakewood, N.J.) providing a blistering 51.8 second leg - the third-fastest split of the day. Senior Fawn Dorr (Akron, N.Y.) also ran an outstanding split on the third leg, clocking 52.44 with freshman Doris Anyanwu (Beltsville, Md.) on the anchor. The Lion foursome finished in a season-best 3:33.06, which is also the fifth-fastest performance in school history and among the top 10 times in the NCAA this year. Jamaica's UTech won the event for the second-straight year running 3:31.54, followed by Oregon (3:32.34) and Texas A&M (3:32.86).
Dorr, Greaves, and Anyanwu, along with junior Caitlin Defusco (Schwenksville, Pa.) grabbed an event victory in the ECAC Championship Women's 4x200-meter relay, running 1:33.78 to break the previous Penn State record of 1:33.87 set in 2004 by Connie Moore, Kamilah Salaam, Chi-Chi Aduba, and Sarah Shoaff. The Lions ran away with the ECAC section, bettering the second-place competitor by well over a second. The victory marks the second-consecutive win for the Lions in the women's ECAC 4x200, while the Lions would also break the section record (1:34.75) set by Penn State last year.
Franek was the top collegiate finisher in the women's Olympic Development mile, clocking a career-outdoor best and school-record 4:40.65 to place fifth overall. Maggie Infield of NYAC won the race in 4:36.40. Franek's effort betters Mary Rawe's 4:41.44, set in 1980. Also scoring an impressive finish individually was Barber, who placed seventh in the women's 100-meter hurdle final with a finishing time of 13.42. Senior Ryan Fritz (Parkesburg, Pa.) would also fair well individually, finishing tied for fifth in the men's championship high jump.
The Lions will split the squads next weekend, sending athletes to both the Jesse Owens Classic at Ohio State, and the Cardinal Qualifier at Stanford. Both events will be contested on April 30, and May 1.