By Shawn Myrick. Photos by Nathan A. Smith
Hands pound up and down on the side of the track as Fawn Dorr cuts around the corner. Running away from the her chanting teammates, the senior strengthens her lead on her way towards the finish line.
“That noise is like sticking your head out of a car window when you are going 100 mph,” said Dorr, a Penn State indoor track runner. “It is not even the sound, but you can feel the vibration in the track of everybody pounding.
“It makes me feel a part of something.”
Dorr and her teammates would finish the women’s 4×400 meter relay invitational in first with a 3:37.57 time, almost 2.93 seconds ahead of the competition. The victory would be a summation of a weekend that head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan would describe as, ‘one of the best Penn State track and field has had ever.’
Through out the Penn State National Invitational, four Penn State athletes competing in the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track would obtain automatic NCAA Indoor Championship bids. The list includes juniors Shavon Greaves and Joe Kovacs, sophomore Ryan Foster and freshman Casimir Loxsom.
“I think we did above and beyond what we were aiming at,” said senior Foster. “Across the board everyone from every event group stepped up.”
Foster won both the men’s invitational 800 meter and 4×800 relay events, with 1:47.48 and 7:33.43 times respectively. Though Foster believes he has more to show in his solo event, he recognized the limitations he faced doing two events in a short period of time.
“I was running on the smell of an oily rag,” said Foster. “It was great to have the support, but it was even sweeter to finish it.”
While Dorr did not receive an automatic bid, Alford-Sullivan was very pleased with her weekend. Along with her relay victory, the senior would claim first in the 400 meter invitationals and second in the 200 meter invitationals, with 53.1 and 24.13 times respectively.
“I train so I can run multiple events,” said Dorr. “Not just to do them, but to do them well.”
Dorr’s second-place finish would come under teammate and 4×400 meter partner Greaves, who beat her in 200 meter invitational with a 23.16 time. Despite breaking a Penn State record two times in a row and ending with a 7.24 second time, Greaves came in second in the 60 meter dash.
“When I came here my coach told me from the start ‘I want that record gone,’” said Greaves. “I was not expecting for it to be me that did it.”
Outside of the track, the men’s shot put and weight throwers were yelling, clapping, and cheering each other on. Among the crowd were juniors Joe Kovacs and Blake Eaton, who finished in second and third with 19.36m and 18.31m throws respectively.
“We have us yelling for Big Ten teams and them yelling for us,” said Kovacs. “Maybe later we’ll be enemies, but right now we want to see the Big Ten represented in Nationals.”
Throughout Friday and Saturday, friends and family would shuffle in out of the indoor track, taking pictures and cheering on there respective athletes. Alford-Sullivan believes the next time fans enter the building the No. 7 women’s team and the No. 48 men’s team will have improved their rankings.
“I said ‘guys I am challenging you to crack the Top 25 in rankings’,” said Alford-Sullivan. “I think those guys punched that ticket down.”
