It was another banner weekend for the PENN Relays. The 5th largest crowd in Penn Relay history cheered and jeered along with bracing the horrible weather. The women and the young girls present provided some solid performances that had many fans on their feet ranting and raving.
SPRINTS
HIGH SCHOOL
In
the 4x100 relay Edwin Allen was the favorite entering in. They won
Champs with a time of 45.00 and cruised through the preliminaries.
However in the finals Long Beach shocked everyone winning with a time of
46.36. Although Holmwood Tech had the best overall time winning the
large schools in 46.26, Long Beach Poly’s win is their 4th
ever and the first American team in recent decades to go back to back.
The beauty of their win is that two of their relay members will be
returning next year and third consecutive title is certainly possible.
The
4x400 relay was all Edwin Allen. They dominated from beginning to end
to claim the title with a time of 3:42.06 with Camira Haughton splitting
54.0. Following Edwin Allen was Holmwood Tech and Vere Technical to
complete a sweep. Edwin Allen success in the long sprints should not be
anything new to anyone, their most noted quarter-miler Ristanannana
Tracey set a 400 hurdle record last year and has turned pro one year
early and will compete for an Olympic medal.
COLLEGE
This
seemed like it would be the year that LSU was finally retain their
crown and the 4x100 relay queens. Texas A&M has won the last three
titles under the direction of former LSU head coach Pat Henry. Texas
A&M has to replace two major members of the 2011 team and did not
seem like they would repeat after losing to LSU at the Texas Relays. In
the finals Texas A&M put their foot down and got the baton around
successfully and without any errors to claim the 4x100 relay with a time
of 43.87.
LSU was able to claim their 12th
4x200 relay title and exact some revenge on Texas A&M. The Lady
Tigers clocked in at 1:31.86 with Kimberlyn Duncan on the end
out-kicking Dominique Duncan. Latoya McDermott, Semoy Hackett and
Rebecca Alexander joined Duncan in taking down the Aggies.
In
the 4x400 relay Texas A&M was able to go out with bang by winning
their first ever title in the event. Freshman anchor Olivia Ekpone split
a 51.9 to hold sophomore Phyllis Francis of Oregon who split a 52.2.
The Aggies clocked in at 3:33.52 with Oregon clocking in at 3:34.08.
Oregon should also be a team to fear they were able to finish second
with a 57.1 first leg, once the first leg problem is solved Oregon has a
team that can compete for the NCAA title.
The
Shuttle Hurdle Relay was expected to be dominated by Clemson. Clemson
has a strong group of 100 hurdlers totaling 5, two of which have gone
under 13 seconds. However during the race one of the girls from Clemson
fell leading the way for LSU to claim their 9th title in the
event with a time of 54.68. The group consisted of Jasmine Stowers,
Kaitlyn Moreau, Shanekia Hall and Alexandria Gochenour.
DISTANCE
Edwin Allen again represented Jamaica proudly with their dominating performance of the weekend in the 4x800 relay. Edwin Allen won by more than 10 seconds with a time of 8:52.97. Marleena Eubanks anchored the team with a split of 2:09.3.
The
Distance medley relay was more kind the Americans. Tatnall of
Wilmington, Delaware had a sensational performance that saw them break a
Penn Relay Record. The girls of Tatnall clocked in at 11:28.86 to break
the old record by almost six minutes. Haley Pierce who anchored the
quartet surpassed North Shore’s anchor with a split of 4:42.9.
COLLEGE
In
the College Championship Division the University of Oregon lived up to
the hype by winning the 4x800 relay 3 minutes ahead of Tennesse. The
Lady Ducks had a winning time of 8:24.16. Laura Roesler the second leg
had the teams top split with 2:04.5.
The
Lady Ducks carried that same momentum in the 4x1,500 relay. Melanie
Thompson, Alex Konsinski, Anne Kesselring and Becca Friday led the
charge from start to finish and won by more than 10 minutes against a
challenging field that included Georgetown and Villanova. A winning time
of 17:29.00 came with a split of 4:16.3 from Anne Kesselring.
Villanova added the 11th
title in the Distance Medley relay. Villanova is number one all time in
this event along with a host of others. The race closely contested with
Tennessee as both have solid programs with good depth. The anchor leg
from Villanova, Sheila Reid outgunned Brittany Sheffey from Tennesse
4:40.8 to 4:43.5 on the mile leg of the race to give the Wildcats their
11th Penn Relay title.
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