Script flipped on Day 2 of Penn Relays

On the second day of the 119th running of the Penn Relays, the sun shone, heroes rose to the occasion, records shattered, and a champion fell.

And through it all, the host Penn track team tried to make itself heard amidst the noise.

The Quakers’ first action of the day came during the College Men’s 4×100 meter relay heats.

Running in the first heat alongside defending Relays champion Auburn, the Red and Blue Squad of Harrison Scharf, Mason Smith, Kyle Webster and Brandon Senior posted a time of 42.12, well off the 40.46 pace set by the Tigers to qualify for the Championship of America.

But Penn found itself sitting in a solid position in the overall standings: 43rd overall, ahead of Ivy foe Yale.

The day’s first major excitement came during the College Women’s 4×1500m Championship of America.

In a taut battle throughout, Michigan’s team of Shannon Osika, Jillian Smith, Rebecca Addison and Amanda Eccleston barely held off defending champion Oregon and Villanova.

More thrills came during the College Men’s Distance Medley Relay Championship of America.

Though defending champion Princeton was seeded first in the event, the Tigers were unable to cope with the loss of 1500m superstar Donn Cabral to the U.S. Olympic Team and fell way back in the back to ninth, despite holding the top seed.

As a result, the door was opened for a new champion to emerge.

Heading into the final 1600m leg, Oregon handed off a narrow lead over Penn State and Villanova to former Livingston High School (NJ) standout Jeremy Elkaim.

But Elkaim set a slow pace and faded badly in the race’s tense final laps, surrendering the lead — and the win — to redshirt freshman Robby Creese and the Nittany Lions, who crossed the stripe with a final time of 9:24.68.

“I wanted to make sure the pace was solid],” Creese said after the race. “That 800, I took the lead and just tried to keep it going to at least keep the rest of the field from catching up that lap.

“Then the last [400 meters], ‘just go.’”

“[I] couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” coach Beth Alford-Sullivan added. “[We’re] really starting off this weekend in a championship fashion.”

The Nittany Lions set a quirky record in the process, setting an all-time mark by going 54 years between men’s DMR victories at the Relays.

In the wake of Penn State’s dethroning of Princeton, the Quakers’ DMR team of John Foye, Ben Bowers, Mato Bekelja and Thomas Awad took to the track in the race’s second heat.

Thanks to a strong 1600m by Awad, the Red and Blue finished 5th out of 27 teams in their heat, crossing the finish line with a time of 9:50.23, less than five seconds behind winner Clemson.

Not to be outdone, Penn’s women took to the track to try to grab some Relays glory.

In the College Women’s Shuttle Hurdles Championship of America, the Red and Blue squad Gabrielle Piper, Amber Scott, Cydney Gillion and Eliana Yankelev placed 5th, posting a time of 59.13.

But perhaps the day’s biggest story came during the High School Boy’s Distance Medley Championship of America.

The race, touted as a duel between national phenomenon Edward Cheserek’s St. Benedict’s Prep (NJ) team and Christian Brothers Academy (NJ), quickly turned topsy-turvy.

St. Benedict’s found itself falling off the pace early, so much so, that by the time Cheserek received the baton to begin his 1600m leg of the race, he was facing a deficit to the leaders of over 150 meters.

Meanwhile, Christian Brothers had plenty of company at the front of the pack, forming a four-team breakaway with La Salle College (PA), Northport (NY) and Cardinal O’ Hara (PA).

As Cheserek expended every last ounce of energy to make up the deficit, the four schools duked it out for supremacy, going two-by-two and even three-wide at times.

In a desperate final sprint to the finish, La Salle College’s Tom Coyle barely nosed ahead at the stripe, beating out Northport’s Mike Brannigan and Christian Brothers’ Tom Rooney, with Cheserek 10 seconds behind.

Two days into the 119th running of the Penn Relays, the script has already been flipped.

Who could possibly predict what tomorrow will bring?

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