UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Led by juniors and NCAA veterans Casimir Loxsom (New Haven, Conn.) and Evonne Britton (El Paso, Texas), the Nittany Lions will travel a strong contingent of athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships, this Friday and Saturday at Boise State University. Loxsom and Britton will compete in the 800 meters, and 60-meter hurdles, respectively, while freshman Robby Creese (Mount Airy, Md.) will also compete individually, making the field in the mile.
The Nittany Lions will also be represented in the relays, as the men’s 4×400-meter squad of Aaron Nadolsky (Altoona, Pa.), Brandon Bennett-Green (Elkins Park, Pa.), Loxsom and Brady Gehret (Altoona, Pa.) enter the event with the nation’s third-best performance. The quartet automatically advanced to the championships, via a school-record 3:05.22 at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame last weekend.
The Nittany Lion foursome – which finished second in the event at the Big Ten Championships last month – are no strangers to high-level competition, as Nadolsky, Loxsom, and Gehret will all members of the Lions’ fifth-place 4×400 at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships. The Nittany Lions will compete in the 4×400 on Saturday evening.
In fact, Loxsom also comes in with an individual All-America finish on his resume, having placed fourth in the 800 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring. Britton, who placed third in the Big Ten in the 60 hurdles this winter, also has some significant NCAA experience to her credit, qualifying individually for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in both 2010 and 2011. The junior’s highest finish came with a ninth-place standing 100-meter hurdles in 2011, good for second team All-America status. Britton’s 8.20 PR in the 60 hurdles this season is the second fastest in Penn State history.
Also coming into the weekend on a high note is freshman sensation Creese, who clocked a PR 3:58.94 at Notre Dame, and was also recently named USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Track Athlete of the Year. Creese has been outstanding all season long, beginning with a collegiate-record 2:19.53 in the 1,000-meters in January, followed by a pair of sub-4:00 performances. Creese would also anchor the Lions to a victory in the DMR at the conference meet, along with Wade Endress (Atloona, Pa.), Nadolsky and Loxsom. Having also finished third individually in the mile, Creese would garner Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, become just the third Nittany Lion in men’s program history to earn the honors.
Action at Jackson Indoor Track gets underway on Friday morning, and runs through Saturday evening.