A little rain never hurt anybody, especially at a track meet.
Despite two rain delays on the second day of the 125th Penn Relays, athletes and spectators persisted through the poor weather for what turned out to be an action-packed day.
On Thursday, Penn made history, as the Quakers became the first Ivy League women’s team to win a Championship of America event. On Friday, the Red and Blue looked to continue their success.
Of the 13 Championship of America Relays on day two of the Penn Relays, the Red and Blue competed in two of them: the women’s 4x100-meters and the men’s distance medley relay.
In the women’s 4x100, the team of senior Imani Solan, junior Elena Brown-Soler, freshman Mia Knight, and sophomore Camille Dickson finished in ninth with a time of 45.85 seconds after running a 45.87 to qualify for the Championship of America event.
In the men’s distance medley relay, the Red and Blue were disqualified after an incident when several runners had tripped and fallen down in the final stretch of the first leg of the race.
Individually, sophomore Ashley Anumba finished second in the Championship of America Women's Discus Throw with a throw of 56.05 meters, while sophomore Cristian Constantin won the college section of the long jump with a jump of 7.33m.
As the Penn Relays bring hundreds of teams and thousands of athletes together, there were many non-Penn highlights on the second day as well.
Doak Walker Award winner and All-American sophomore running back Jonathan Taylor ran in the 4x100 for Wisconsin on Friday. However, the Badgers were unable to qualify for the Championship of America Relay on Saturday.
Edwin Allen High School of Clarendon, Jamaica broke its own Penn Relays record for the high school girls 4x100 by more than 0.30 seconds, winning the Championship of America with 43.62.
Wisconsin’s victory in the the college men’s distance medley relay marked its first Championship of America win in 103 years. The race came down to the wire as the Badgers' team of senior Morgan McDonald, senior Corbin Ellis, senior Eric Brown, and junior Oliver Hoare finished just 0.74 seconds ahead of Indiana with a time of 9:47.19.
Penn will look to finish strong on the final day of the Penn Relays on Saturday. The Quakers will compete in nine Championship of America Relays on day three.
“Our goal is to get better with each race. At Penn Relays, of course we want to protect our home turf, but our eyes are on running our best for Heps,” freshman Caroline O’Sullivan said.
O’Sullivan will be running in the women’s 4x800 Championship of America Relay on Saturday. Like all of the Penn athletes competing on the final day of the Penn Relays, she hopes to bring home the hardware.
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