The Penn Relays » Friday Events

College Athlete of the Meet for Relays

Josh — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:46:57 +0000

Our college athlete of the meet for relays is Matthew Gibney of Villanova with his excellent come-from-behind victory in the DMR, splitting 3:58.4.

The Corporate Relay

Josh — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:48:44 +0000

Tucked at the end of Friday is our Corporate Event. The companies run the DMR distance, and one key rule is that you have to have a woman run at least one leg.

The General Electric team, which has won this many times, is in the lead with the 1600 to go. GE wins in 10:47.47, which is similar to the college women’s DMR record.

College Men's Sprint Medley

Josh — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:14:36 +0000

Tennessee Wins the Sprint Medley (Photo by Han Nguyen)

Our last Championship of America is the Men’s Sprint Medley. Perhaps LSU can win the men’s and women’s events tonight ?

We have a huge group after the 200-200-400 legs, with Washington taking the lead on the first lap of the 800.

One to go, Washington, Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU in a tight group. Its Tennesse and Washington down the stretch !

Tennessee wins in 3:17.77 pulling away, with Washington in 3:18.81. Results.

College Women's Sprint Medley Championship

Josh — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:50:44 +0000

Our next championship is the College Women’s Sprint Medley Relay.

LSU, with Philadelphia’s own Latavia Thomas, is battling with Georgia State. Latavia Thomas brings it home, anchoring her 3rd straight SMR championship in 3:47.26. Georgia State was 2nd in 3:48.66. We’ll wait to see the results of the 2nd heat before we declare LSU the winner . . . .

The 2nd heat winner was Wake Forest in 3:56 – we can now declare LSU the winner. As stated above, this is their 3rd straight, and all three have been anchored by Latavia Thomas.

Results are here.

High School Girls 4×400 Championship

Rich — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:50:36 +0000

Edwin Allen after a hard earned victory

After two straight victories by Eleanor Roosevelt of Maryland, we have a new champion. Holmwood Tech and Manchester dueled the whole way, but they forgot about Edwin Allen, whose anchor, Ristanna Tracey came on strong and passed her fellow Jamaicans less than 50 meters from the line for a 3:41.25 victory. Edwin Allen wins the Penn 4×4 for the first time.

Holmwood held on for second (3:41.72), just ahead of Manchester (3:41.76).

Results are here.

High School Individual Distance

Josh — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:29:42 +0000

We have two individual events tonight before out high school girls 4×400 championship, the mile and the 3000m.

Jeremy Rae of Lakeshore (Ontario Canada) has opened up a very large lead at one lap, with an approximate half-mile split of 2:04. At three laps, Rae still leads, but the field is definitely stalking the leader.

Rae wins wire-to-wire with an excellent kick. His winning time is 4:08.13 which is a meet record. The old record was held by Matthew Centrowitz [The Younger] with a 4:08.38 from in 2007.

1500 splits for the Mile race – Rae 3:52.27, Shields 3:54.67, Peavey 3:56.27.

The 3000m is our second event. Soloman Haile takes the early lead, but unlike the mile there is a close pack.

2 laps to go, and we still have a fairly big group of 7 runners led by Haile. One to go, we have 4 runners. With a big surge from Robert Mickikis (Crestwood PA), he wins in 8:23, a solid time.

High School Boys Distance Medley Championship

Rich — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:20:53 +0000

The Upper Dublin boys take a victory lap. Photo by Han Nguyen

Joe Rosa of West Windsor Plainsboro North leads after the first exchange (3:07.4), with Cardinal O’Hara and Don Bosco close behind.

WWPN held the lead after the 400, but Upper Dublin’s Paul Reilly moved to the front with a little less than a lap to go on the 800 leg. WWPN’s Tyler Corkedale was having none of that, and handed off in the lead.

On the anchor Jim Rosa (WWPN) lead Mike Palmisano (Upper Dublin) with the field another 15 meters back. With 500 meters to go Rosa started pulling away. But Palmisano wasn’t done and turned it on over the final 200, cruising to victory in 10:08.48. Palmisano split 4:14.6.

WWPN took second in 10:11.28 and Robby Andrews, the national indoor record holder in the 800, brought Manalapan from way back to take third, in 10:12.78.

Results are here.

Boys High School Shot Put: Vena Sets Penn Record

Rich — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:01:39 +0000

Nicholas Vena of Morristown, NJ, absolutely destroyed the Penn Relays record in the boys high school shot put. Vena got the ball out 72 feet, 2-1/2 inches (22.01 meters), almost five feet better than the old mark, set in 1985 by J.J. Grant of Liverpool, NY (67-3/20.50).

Full results are here.

Friday's Attendance: 39,501

Rich — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:51:43 +0000

Great weather means a great crowd: Today’s attendance was 39,501, making it the third biggest Friday crowd in Penn Relays history. (The record, 39,943, was set in 2006.)

Combined with Thursday’s crowd, that brings our two-day total to 63,816. A Saturday crowd of 50,379 would break the Carnival’s three-day attendance record. in 2006 we drew 114,194.

College 4×400 Men's Heats

Josh — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:27:33 +0000

Action in the Heptagonal Section Won By Cornell (Photo by Han Nguyen)

Our next event consists of the qualifying heats in the college 4×400.

Heat 1 featured some great times: Florida State, 3:05.83, Texas A&M 3:07.92, TCU, 3:08.29

Heat 2: LSU 3:06.07, St. Augustine’s 3:06:39, Kentucky 3:07.27

Heat 3: South Carolina 3:06.26, Texas Tech 3:07.26, Florida 3:09.61

You can follow along on the ranked list here.