March 5, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.: Freshman sensation Robby Creese (Mount Airy, Md.) has been named Mid-Atlantic Track Athlete of the Year, announced by the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday. Creese, who was recently named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is coming off another stellar performance over the weekend, as the rookie clocked a personal-best 3:58.94 for the mile at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame - his second career sub-4:00 effort in the event. Creese's PR 3:58.94 currently stands 18th in Division I and tops among freshman.
Creese has been on fire throughout the indoor season, beginning with a collegiate record-setting performance in the 1,000-meters at the Nittany Lion Challenge in January. Creese's time of 2:19.53, was not only enough to better the previous collegiate-best 2:19.57, set by former Kansas State Wildcat and 2008 Olympic Christian Smith in 2006, but was also good for new American Junior and Penn State records.
The freshman continued to cruise into February, breaking the 4:00-barrier at the Flotrack Husky Classic at the University of Washington with a then personal-best 3:59.52 to become just the third Penn State athlete in school history to better the elusive mile barrier. Creese helped the Lions' distance medley relay - along with Wade Endress (Altoona, Pa.), Aaron Nadolsky (Altoona, Pa.), and Casimir Loxsom (New Haven, Conn.) - to victory at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, anchoring the effort with a 4:01 1600-meter split, to break the tape at 9:44.40. The win was the first-ever Big Ten relay victory in men's program history. Individually, Creese would place third in the mile, crossing in 4:07.69 in a tactical final round.
The Nittany Lions will close out the indoor season this weekend, competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boise, Idaho, on March 9-10. Accepted entries for the competition will be announced by 7:00 p.m., this evening on www.NCAA.com.