Lauren Penney knew she accomplished something special the moment she crossed the finish line.

‘I guess I had an idea at the half mile because it was well under any pace I had run before,’ Penney said. ‘But I didn’t know if I had slowed down until I crossed the line.’

Penney didn’t slow down. Instead, she went fast enough to run herself into the record books. She set a new Syracuse track and field record for the fastest time in a mile at the Boston University Valentine’s Invitational last weekend. It took her 4:41.34 to complete the race.

Penney started out in the back of the pack, where she usually likes to begin, and as the race went on, she finally found enough space to make her move to the front. Penney earned a third-place finish and a new SU record.

The previous record belonged to her Orange teammate Heather Stephens, who set the mile record a year ago at the same meet.

Although it was the same meet, Penney doesn’t find it to be too ironic.

‘It was just good timing when this meet falls compared to the workouts we do at this point in the season,’ Penney said.

For Stephens, she expected her teammate to eventually surpass her. It was just a matter of time.

‘She had put herself in a good position, and she’s been working out really, really well, so we were all ready for her to run a fast time,’ Stephens said. ‘The exciting part is that she’s ready to run even faster.’

SU head coach Chris Fox, who didn’t realize at first it was a school record, said that was a time expected for Penney coming into the race. They planned on her going that fast, and that’s exactly what she did.

Penney continues to meet and exceed expectations. She ranks No. 12 nationally in the 3K so far this season. That ranking is especially important because if Penney remains in that slot for two more weeks, she can qualify for NCAA indoor nationals.

Fox said it would be a big deal for Syracuse because runners from SU usually don’t qualify for indoor nationals, as the focus is more on outdoor competition.

Although Penney understands the importance of qualifying, she doesn’t try to put any added pressure on herself.

‘I think a big part of success is staying relaxed. I try not to put too much pressure on it,’ Penney said. ‘If I stay relaxed, have fun with it and do what I’m supposed to, then I know I’ll accomplish my goal.’

Orange preps for Big East meet

The Big East championship this weekend in Akron, Ohio, is one SU has marked off on its calendar. But instead of intensifying the training leading up to the meet, Fox has backed off on how hard he works his runners.

Fox said all the runners have worked hard since Christmas, so he felt it was important to relax their training this week. In turn, he hopes they all would have fresh legs going into the weekend’s meet.

‘We backed it off a little bit and hopefully they can run a little faster,’ Fox said.

Long distance runner Tito Medrano said when the Big East championship comes around, it’s a ‘hiccup’ in the usual hardworking routine the team goes through on a week-by-week basis.

Although the training has been lenient this week, Medrano knows this is a race the team has been working toward all season long. For the Orange runners who don’t qualify for Nationals, this is the pinnacle of the indoor season.

‘This is the big one we all train for, this is the big one we all have our eyes on,’ Medrano said.

Fox said the meet is a low-key one, and it is a checkpoint on where the team is at, especially with the outdoor season approaching in a couple months.

Overall, SU hopes to improve on where it placed last year, with Louisville, Connecticut and Notre Dame as its toughest competition.

Medrano said SU wants to make a couple more steps to earning as many possible points to triumph over other Big East schools.

As for Fox, he keeps it in a simple perspective.

‘We’re not the best track team in the Big East, and we’re not the worst,’ Fox said. ‘We’re just going to do as good as we can.’

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Published on February 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm