Jenna Fatica was an immediate impact runner for the Behrend Lions from 2008-2011. In cross country, she was an All-AMCC selection three straight seasons while earning a spot competing on the team’s NCAA Regional squad all three years. In track & field, she was a record-breaking machine with eight new school records. Fatica still holds part of the 4x800m record set in 2011. She garnered All-ECAC honors and qualified for the ECAC Championships, while being named the Mason Dixon Champion and All-Conference in the 800m. Fatica was named the 2011 Behrend Female Athlete of the Year and earned the Scholarship/Leadership Award.
Division I Akron’s loss, was Behrend’s gain back in 2008. Fatica began with the Lions on the cross country course. At her first AMCC Championship in 2008, the newcomer registered a time of 25:09.8 to place second on the team and eighth overall. She was the second freshman to finish in the Top 10 to earn All-Conference honors. Her sophomore year was identical to the first, taking second on the team at the AMCC Meet. She clocked in at 27:31.3 for the 6K race and once again was tabbed All-Conference. Fatica made it three consecutive seasons earning All-AMCC honors in her junior season, placing 13th overall.
In track and field, Fatica was a record-smashing machine. She broke records in the indoor 500m and 800m and outdoor 800m. She established herself as one of the top three who had ever run the 400m indoors and outdoors, the mile indoors and the 1500m outdoors. In addition, she helped set records in the 4x200, 4x400, 4x800, and distance medley relays indoors and the 4x400m relay outdoors. She is still in the Top 10 for the indoor 4x800 and DMR records, and only had her 500m record broken by NCAA qualifier Rachel Pell in 2017.
Fatica was an eight-time All-Mason Dixon Conference selection. From her sophomore to senior years, she was All-Mason Dixon in the 800m and 4x400m. She was All-ECAC in the 4x800, DMR and 800m indoors, while earning the honors in the 800m outdoors in her senior year. Her teammates recognized her accomplishments and leadership, voting her the MVP and honoring her with the Leadership/Scholarship Award throughout her career. The athletic department felt the same and named her the Behrend Female Athlete of the Year.