PARK RIDGE, Ill. Turning in a school record time in the mile, and one of the top times in the nation this season, helped Robby Creese run to Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors Monday.
Creese raced to a time of 3 minutes, 57.11 seconds at the Husky Classic at the University of Washington on Saturday. The time is the second-fastest in the NCAA this year and broke Ryan Foster’s two-year-old Nittany Lion record of 3:58.49, as well as Creese’s third mile run under 4:00. Creese finished fourth in the race, trailing three professional runners.
He trails only Oklahoma's Patrick Casey at 3:56.28 for the year’s top NCAA time.
Penn State moved up to No. 5 in the national rankings from the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches’ Association.
“It’s a really exciting time for our program, as this is the highest we’ve ever been ranked on the men’s side,” said Director and Head Coach of Track and Field/Cross Country Beth Alford-Sullivan. “We’re certainly proud of the efforts of team across the board throughout the indoor season. We’ll look forward to the conference meet first, then we’ll see how we progress throughout the postseason.”
Some Nittany Lions will be running this weekend at the Millrose Games, while the rest are preparing for the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 22-23.
