Blue skies, a slight wind out of the north and come-from-behind wins made for a perfect last day of Penn Relays.
On Saturday, 48,871 fans came to watch the final day of the annual Relay Carnival with the highlight being the annual USA vs. The World relays. And the events still brought out some top performances and the usual “whoops” from Jamaican fans.
The two most exciting races of the USA vs. The World series both took place in the 4×400-meter relay, with both the men’s and women’s races coming down to the final straightaway.
On the men’s side, USA’s Tony McQuay held off a hard-charging Errol Nolan in the final straightaway to win by .24 seconds. The women’s race was even closer as Francena McCorory outkicked Great Britain’s Perri Shakes-Drayton to win by the slimmest of margins, .02 seconds.
In the 4×100m relay, the USA Red team comprised of Justin Gatlin, Ryan Bailey, Darvis ‘Doc’ Patton and Wallace Spearmon held off a rather weak Jamaican squad that was missing Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake. The Americans finished in 38.26 and will use the race to help build momentum if they hope to challenge the Jamaicans, the defending Olympic champions, at the upcoming world championships in Tokyo this summer.
On the women’s side, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price and her Jamaican teammates upset the heavily favored American team that featured three of the four runners on last summer’s world-record-setting 4×100m relay team in London. The race came down to the final straightaway and Fraser-Price, the defending Olympian champion in the 100m, would not be denied as she stopped the clock in 42.42.
Aside from the professionals, the day was packed with phenomenal final kicks. Two of the most notable performances came in the High School Boys 4×400m Championship of America and the College Women’s 4×800m Championship of America.
In the HSB 4×400, favorite Munro College held a slight lead over a trio of Jamaican rivals entering the bell lap. However, thanks to Javon Francis’ 44.8-second anchor leg, the fastest ever in the history of the Relays, Calabar beat out Munro with a final time of 3:09.22.
In similar fashion, the CW’s 4×400 saw traditional powers Villanova and Oregon battle it out for first place. With less than 100 meters to go, the diminutive Emily Lipari used a tremendous final kick to help propel the Wildcats to the title and a new collegiate record of 8:17.45.
Elsewhere around the track, Indiana’s Derek Drouin, a bronze medalist for Canada in last summer’s Olympics, broke the Penn Relays record with a jump of 2.33 meters (7’7.75”).
The Penn Quakers also put in a number of strong performances throughout the day. In the 4×800m relay, Arianna Tabatabaie, Gabby Cuccia, Pauline Dabrowski and Chelsea Delaney recorded the fourth-best time in program history with a 8:50.15 race that placed third in the unseeded portion of the event.
For the men, the Quakers had solid performances by Jordan Jett in the triple jump and Karl Ingram in the javelin. Both barely missed tying personal bests.
More Penn Relays analysis to follow tomorrow.
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