The Aggies got some consolation with a victory in the men’s race, their first win in this event since 1996. A&M’s time of 3:01.73 is the fourth fastest in meet history.

And with that, we close out the 117th edition of the Penn Relays. Today’s attendance was 48,531, which brings us to a three-day total of 110,141!

Robby Andrews in a position we have seen before - #2 All-Time at Penn (Photo Kim Spir)

Similar to last year, the college men’s 4×800 championship was highly anticipated.  There were a number of good teams in this race, but perhaps again with no clear favorite, although defending champion Virginia was returning with their speedy anchor, Robby Andrews.

The first exchange had Arkansas, followed by Penn State and Virginia.  Arkansas opened up a nice 30 meter lead on the second leg, but it was quickly swallowed up by the peloton led by Penn State.  Penn State and Virginia would pass Arkansas before the halfway mark, with Sam Borchers of Penn State running a 1:47.

Penn State (Cas Loxsom) and Virginia (Robby Andrews) would receive the baton neck and neck at the final exchange, after a sharp duel between 3rd legs Ryan Foster (PSU) and Anthony Kostelac (VA).  Mike Preble of Texas A&M made up significant ground on the penultimate lap but could not maintain it throughout.

Loxsom would push the pace the entire last lap, trying to take the starch out of the Cavalier’s anchor, but Andrews dropped the hammer with 150 to go passing the Nittany Lions and right into history with a 7:12.15, Penn State following with 7:12.90.  This was the first race in some time that threatened the legendary 7:11 by Penn State in 1985 and is #2 AT.  Penn State’s time was #6 and their fastest time since the famous record.  Andrews split was 1:46.0.

Van Buskirk (nice socks !) for the Blue Devils (Photo Kim Spir)

Our third distance championship for women was the 4×800.  We had Georgetown in the DMR and Boston College in the 4×1500, with anyone’s guess in this race.

The leadoff leg came through in 2:06.  We had many teams in contention (BYU, Georgetown, UConn, Tennessee, Duke) at this point.  BYU took the lead with Duke at the second exchange with a 2:03.3.  However, Duke took over on the third leg, followed by Georgetown.  Kate Van Buskirk anchored for Duke, with Renee Tomlin for Georgetown . . . Van Buskirk held off Tomlin in 8:35.95.  Tennessee closed hard with Chanelle Price in 2:03.

This is Duke’s first 4×800 championship, and only the 2nd for the school.

• Jordan Yamoah of Arlington High School (LaGrangeville, NY) defended his high school boys pole vault championship and set a Carnival record by clearing 16′ 6-1/2″ (5.04 meters).

• Brandon Heroux of William & Mary won the college men’s javelin championship at 239′ 9″ (73.09 meters).

• Kemarki Absalom of St. George’s (Jamaica) cleared 6′ 9″ (2.06 meters) to win the high school boys high jump championship. Absalom also won this event in 2009.

• Marquis Dendy of Middletown (Del.) wins the high school boys triple jump championship for the second year in a row. His winning mark was a wind-aided 50′ 8-1/4″ (15.45 meters).

Gabriel Mvumvure (left) brings it home for LSU (photo by Kim Spir)

In what was shaping up to be a preview of the upcoming NCAA championship final, LSU blasted to the second fastest time in Penn Relays history, 38.77, for an easy win. Florida (40.00) and Texas Christian (40.15) were a distant second and third. Two-time defending champ Texas A&M dropped the baton on the final exchange.

This was LSU’s 9th victory in the event, which ties TCU for the most in meet history.

Penn State's Foster holds off Florida's Sean Obinwa and Texas A&M's Joey Roberts (photo by Kim Spir)

LSU won the women’s sprint medley relay for the fifth year in a row and seventh time overall. Their time of 3:48.45 easily outdistanced runner-up Florida (3:50.50).

In the men’s race, Ryan Foster gritted out the final homestretch for Penn State’s first Penn Relays title in this event since 1942. His split of 1:48.78 gave the Nittany Lions a 3:17.11-3:17.30 victory over Florida. The Gators were led off by defending NCAA 100-meter dash champ Jeff Demps.

Also of note, decathlon star Curtis Beach anchored Duke to first place in the second heat, with a 1:50.78 split.

Gibney pulls off the victory for Nova (photo by Kim Spir)

Villanova wins the DMR for the 24th time in Relays history!

Albany’s Christopher Burke set the pace on the opening 1200 leg, then Indiana’s Chris Vaughn took control on the 400. IU’s Daniel Stockberger set the pace for 600 meters of the 800 leg, before being overtaken by Arkansas’ Duncan Phillips and Villanova’s Samuel Ellison. On the anchor leg, Virginia Tech’s Michael Hammond took the early lead with Villanova (Matthew Gibney), Arkansas (Dorian Ulrey), Indiana (Ben Hubers)  and BYU (Miles Batty) trailing. Albany’s Paul Lagno joined the leaders with two laps to go and took the lead on the penultimate backstretch. Batty powered into the lead with 200 meter to go, but had no response for Gibney and Ulrey.

Villanova clocked 9:37.93 off these splits: Brian Tetreault (2:57.86), Carlton Bowers (46.89), Samuel Ellison (1:51.03), Matthew Gibney (4:02.16)

BC's King is Queen of the 1500 (photo by Kim Spir)

Just as Georgetown was the spoiler in Thursday’s college women’s distance medley relay championship, so Boston College dashed the Hoyas hopes of a distance double in Friday’s 4×1500. Thanks to a thrilling sprint from anchor Caroline King, the Eagles scored their first ever women’s Championship of America at the Penn Relays.

Richmond took the lead at the first exchange and held a wide margin halfway through the second leg. But BC’s Jillian King led a strong charge from the chase group to draw even at the exchange. Georgetown’s Renee Tomlin went to the front and slowly extended its lead. On the anchor leg BC’s King and Villanova’s Sheila Reid trailed the Hoyas’ Emily Infeld by as much as 30 meters with a lap to go. A big push from Reid brought the duo within striking distance, and King slingshot off the final curve to close quickly on Infeld.

Boston College hit the tape in 17:25.19, with Georgetown (17:25.65) and Nova (17:28.12) following.

A&M on the podium (Photo Kim Spir)

Texas A&M has won the championship 4×100 in 43.44, outlasting LSU and Central Florida.  This is the third straight championship for A&M in this event.

LSU's Melissa Ogbourne sours to a triple jump title (photo by Kim Spir)

We had a huge record in the high school boys discus championship from Calabar’s Travis Smikle. There’s plenty of other field event action today. Here are the championship winners (this list will be updated throughout the day):

• Melissa Ogbourne of LSU won the college women’s triple jump championship with a wind-aided hop, step and jump of 42′ 10-3/4″ (13.07 meters).

• Hayden Baillio of the University of Texas won the college men’s shot put championship at 64′ 0″ (19.51 meters).

• Rebecca O’Brien of Buffalo took the college women’s discus championship at 173′ 1″ (52.77 meters).

• Rutgers’ James Plummer won the college men’s discus championship at 191′ 1″ (58.26 meters), taking the title for the second year in a row.

• Shanay Briscoe of Texas won the college women’s high jump championship by clearing 5′ 10-1/2″ (1.79 meters).

• The high school boys javelin championship went to Steve Feister of Hempfield (Landisville, Pa), with a throw of 211′ 5″ (64.44 meters).

• Marquise Goodwin of Texas won the college men’s long jump championship with a wind-aided leap of 26′ 3-1/1″ (8.01 meters).

• Walter Henning of LSU won the college men’s hammer throw championship for the third straight year. His winning mark: 208′ 3″ (63.49 meters).