Penn Relays 2007: Women’s College Relay Preview
Posted April 25th, 2007 at 4:44 PM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
The Ducks have one of the storied programs in collegiate track and field, but they have never won a race at the Penn Relays.
(To be fair, until recent history, they never came. That includes the halcyon years of Kenny Moore, Bill Dellinger, Leanne Warren, Steve Prefontaine, Claudette Groenendaal, Alberto Salazar. That list is endless.)
When Villanova was in its historic run of DMR wins (1966 to 1981), West Coast fans used to argue that the Ducks could have handled them. The teams never met at that distance.
Now, the Oregon women are coming to Philadelphia looking for that inaugural victory. Coach Vin Lananna’s Ducks are contenders in two of the distance relays, the 4×800 and the 4×1500. Those teams are both led by Oregon’s superstar, Rebekah Noble, who won the NCAA 800m last year as a freshman with a stunning straightaway finish.
Noble, who has run 2:02.07 in the 800m, is joined in the 4×800 by Nicole Blood, a freshman who graduated from Royal H.S. in Simi Valley, Calif., but who spent much of her high school career in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; a Canadian, Dana Buchanan, who has run 2:09, and Zoe Buckman, an Australian who finished third in the Australian national championships last month in 2:03.94.
The same four are scheduled in the 4×1500. Noble, a novice at this distance, nevertheless won a section of the Stanford Invitational this spring in 4:17.43. Blood has run 4:25.44 this season. Blood, the only member of the team who has run at Franklin Field, was a member of Saratoga’s winning high school DMR in 2004.
Noble won Washington state high school championships at distances as short as the 200 meters, but is not even the most famous track and field graduate of her high school, John Rogers (Spokane, Wash.). Gerry Lindgren was a member of the school’s Class of 1964.
In the distance relays, Oregon will have its hands full with teams such as Duke, Michigan, Villanova, Georgetown, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and BYU.
The sprint relays will be dominated by South Carolina, LSU, Tennessee, Auburn and Texas A&M. (Texas, which won the women’s 4×100 in 2006, is not sending sprinters to the meet.)
4×800 – Texas, surprise winner a year ago, will be back to defend its championship. Coach Bev Kearney’s Lady Longhorns return Temeka Kincy, Janine Davis and Katara Rosby from last year’s team. Joining them will be a 17-year-old freshman, Devon Williams. Williams, who ran at the Relays for Towson Catholic (Md.), ran 2:06 in the 800m at age 14. Rosby has run 2:08, Kincy 2:07, Davis 2:06.
Michigan will be a threat in all of the distance relays. In the 4×800 they expect to use a squad of Anna Willard, Nicole Edwards, Geena Gall and Katie Erdman. Gall was a finalist in the NCAA indoor and outdoor 800m last year, as a freshman. Willard has a best of 2:07.12, Edwards 2:07.09, Erdman 2:02.99 and Gall 2:02.73.
Birmingham (England), making its debut at the Relays, has a powerhouse lineup of Hannah England (2:05.25 best), Stacey Johnson (4:29 1,500m), Anna Simmonds (2:05.76) and Hannah Brooks (2:06.16).
Other teams to watch include Georgetown (Renee Tomlin, Nana Hanson-Hall, Ashley Hubbard and Hillary Bontz), Tennessee (Rose-Anne Galligan, Sarah Bowman, Phoebe Wright and Leslie Treherne), UNC (Megan Kaltenbach, Georgia Kloss, Brie Felnagle and Colleey Farley), BYU (Carlee Clark, Michelle Turner, Angela Wagner and Heidi Magill),Villanova (Ellen Dougherty, Arusha McKenzie, Frances Koons and Akilah Vargas) and LSU (featuring Latavia Thomas and Tanya Osbourne).
Tennessee, which lost to Texas by two tenths last year, has won the event three times, including 1984 when the existing meet record of 8:20.22 was set. Joetta Clark, a sister of the Volunteers’ coach, J.J. Clark, was the anchor of that team. The Vols won this year’s Florida Relays with 8:36.19.
LSU’s Thomas ran at the Relays many times as a member of the West Catholic H.S. and William Penn (Philadelphia) teams, on distances ranging from the 4×100 up to the 4×800.
Distance Medley Relay (DMR) – North Carolina is back. Dennis Craddock’s Lady Tar Heels won this event at the Relays from 2001-03 when Shalane Flanagan was the team’s star. Flanagan was named the meet’s outstanding competitor for college women runners in 2002 and went on to set two American records in 2007.
Her baton has now been passed to Brie Felnagle, who anchored the Heels to the NCAA championship indoors last month and an American indoor record of 10:59.46. Felnagle ran a 4:33 1,600-meter anchor. She was joined by Megan Kaltenbach, Tyra Johnson and Georgia Kloss. That same lineup scheduled to run at the Relays.
Tennessee, second in that race, six seconds back, will try to challenge with a squad of freshman Rose-Anne Galligan, Latonya Loche, Leslie Treherne and Sarah Bowman.
Duke won this event in 2005, the lone win by the Duke women at the Relays. Coach Norm Ogilvie has a lineup of Kate Van Buskirk, Lindsay Owen, Michelle Seibert and Shannon Rowbury. Rowbury, returning from a redshirt season, was NCAA indoor champion in the mile. She has run 4:12 for 1,500m.
Georgetown, seventh indoors, won this event in 1996. They have a squad of Bontz, Hubbard, Hanson-Hall and Elizabeth Maloy.
Villanova, 10th indoors, has won this event nine times, including last year when Marina Muncan outkicked Ari Lambie of Stanford. Stanford is not attending the Relays this year. Muncan has graduated. Three of her teammates – Koons, Vargas and Tiera Fletcher – return and will be joined by McKenzie.
Penn State has a solid squad of Megan Hutchinson, Shana Cox, Briene Simmons and freshman Bridget Franek. Others to watch include Penn, Princeton, Cornell, Wake Forest and Yale.
Wake’s lineup includes Nicole Schappert, whose father Kenny ran on many winning Relays teams for Villanova, and Michelle Sikes, a Rhodes scholar who finished third in the NCAA indoor 5K.
4×1500 – Michigan has a powerful lineup of Erdman (4:20.06), Gall (4:19.85), Edwards (4:16.06) and Willard (4:25.35). Willard, who ran the steeplechase for Brown last year, is now a grad student at Ann Arbor. Edwards, a Canadian, was fourth in the NCAA outdoor last year. Gall, previously an 800m specialist, dipped under 4:20 for the first time at Stanford this spring. The Lady Wolverines’ only victory at the Relays was in the 1985 DMR.
Duke counters with a team of Van Buskirk (4:27), Liz Wort (4:22), Sally Meyerhoff (4:24) and Rowbury (4:12).
Others to watch: BYU (Julie Meads, Clark, Turner and Magill), UNC (Laura Cummings, Kloss, Kaltenbach and Felnagle), Georgetown (Maggie Infeld, Maloy, Joanna Rodgers and Bontz), Villanova (Theresa Rush, Dougherty, Vargas and Koons) and Columbia (Susan Hendrick 4:24, Carmen Ballard 4:28, Shelby Leland and Daniella Padilla 4:27).
Sprint Medley Relay (SMR) – The college women’s division of the Relays was begun in 1977. In those 30 years, an Ivy League team has never won a Championship race.
Cornell may be the team to beat in this year’s sprint medley. The Big Red are led off by sprinters Tameka Royal and Jeomi Maduka, followed by quarter-miler Cameron Washington (54.08) and anchored by senior half-miler Morgan Uceny, who broke the Heps indoor record this winter and has run 2:04.
The top challengers appear to be Tennessee (Lynne Lane, Courtney Champion, Loche and Treherne) and Miami (Ashley Dukes, Krista Simkins, Ginou Etienne and Ena Leufroy).
Also in the mix are UNC (Shardne Anderson, Johnson, Kloss and Felnagle), Virginia Tech (Patrice Potts, Britni Spruill, Shell Green and Asia Washington) and Penn State (Cox, Lauren Burns, Aleesha Barber and Simmons).
Other leading anchor runners include Osbourne of LSU, Jesse Carlin for Penn, Infeld for Georgetown, Schappert for Wake and Jessica Ortman for Albany.
Shuttle Hurdles Relay (SHR) – LSU won a year ago—its seventh win in the event. This year’s team is Jessica Ohanaja, the NCAA indoor runner-up; Nickeisha Wilson, Angel Boyd and Shaunette Davidson.
South Carolina, the 2005 champions, have Ronnetta Alexander, Brittney James, Trier Young and Chiquita Martin. They ran 53.87 at the Florida Relays.
Other challengers are Texas A&M (Lindsey Adams, Whitney Holmes, Tresha Henry and Jennifer Williams) and Tennessee (Celriece Law, Pavi’Elle James, Lane and Nia Ali). Lane and Ali, both freshmen, ran at the Relays in high school. Lane ran for New Rochelle (N.Y.), Ali for West Catholic and Pleasantville (N.J.).
4×100 – LSU has won this event 10 times, including three times this decade. Coach Dennis Shaver’s lineup should be from among Kelli-Ann Baptiste (11.08), Samantha Henry (11.54), Kristina Davis, Sherry Fletcher (11.45) and Brooklynn Morris (11.30). Henry, from Jamaica, set her personal record at the Texas Relays. Baptiste is the Trinidadian national record-holder, while Fletcher hails from Grenada.
J.J. Clark’s Tennessee Volunteers, who ran 44.05 at the Sea-Ray Relays, have a lineup of Courtney Champion, Cleo Tyson, and the two freshmen, Lane and Ali. The Vols last won this race at Penn in 1994.
Texas A&M has a brand new lineup of Jamaicans Tresha Henry and Simone Facey and two 18-year-old freshmen, Porscha Lucas and Khrystal Carter. Lucas, from Plano, Texas, has run 11.49; Carter, from San Jose, Calif., has a best of 11.57. Facey, the national junior college champion at Barton County, ran a world-leading 22.77 in the 200m at the Miami Invitational last week.
This will be Facey’s first appearance at Franklin Field since the famous high school girls’ championship 4×100 in 2004. In that race, Shalonda Solomon, anchoring for Long Beach Poly (Calif.), took the final exchange in the lead, but Facey, anchoring for Vere Tech, blew past her for the win. Vere broke the meet record, running 44.32, while Poly took second in 44.50 to establish the American high school record.
And wouldn’t you know it? Solomon will be on hand as well, as the likely anchor runner for Curtis Frye’s fine South Carolina squad. She will be joined by Stephanie Smith, Natasha Hastings and Ronnetta Alexander.
Other teams worth watching are Auburn, anchored by Kerron Stewart; TCU, anchored by Virgil Hodge; G. C. Foster, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and Oklahoma.
4×200 – LSU has won this event 11 times, including six times since 1999. All four members of last year’s winning squad – Fletcher, Baptiste, Deonna Lawrence and Morris – are back, along with other possible contributors Monique Cabral and Cynetheia Rooks.
South Carolina may be better at this distance than the 4×100. The Lady Gamecocks handled Tennessee at the Florida Relays last month, 1:32.16-1:34.12. Miami was third (1:35.76), Hampton fourth (1:36.20). South Carolina was second to LSU a year ago, with Tennessee in third.
Coach Pat Henry’s Texas A&M squad will be a factor here as well. He could use a three-frosh lineup of Lucas, Carter and Elizabeth Adeoti (11.50 100m best), joined by Facey.
Jamaica’s G.C. Foster College has a strong squad of Jeraine Bolt, Sonita Sutherland, Rose-Marie Whyte and Sudian Davis. Sutherland has been a mainstay of the fine Holmwood Tech teams in recent years.
Other teams to watch include UTech, St. Augustine’s, TCU, Oklahoma, Essex County, Auburn, Georgia Tech and Pitt.
4×400 – After years of dominance in this event, Coach Curtis Frye’s South Carolina Lady Gamecocks had a taste of humility last year, settling for sixth place at the Relays and eighth at the NCAA championships (although still running a very respectable 3:31.11, the fastest last place in the history of the NCAA meet).
They are back with a vengeance this year, defeating rivals LSU and Texas A&M in a torrid NCAA indoor final, winning in 3:29.57 to 3:29.93 for A&M and 3:30.26 for LSU. The keys have been the return to form of Stephanie Smith, the spectacular running of veteran Natasha Hastings and the addition of two outstanding freshmen, Brandi Cross and Krystal Cantey.
Smith had an off year in 2006 but made the field for the NCAA indoor and led off the 4×400. Hastings, who ran at the Relays in high school for A.P. Randolph/NYC, set the collegiate record in winning the NCAA indoor, in 50.80. Cantey also ran at Franklin Field in high school, as an outstanding intermediate hurdler for Winslow Township/N.J.
For Cross, it will be her personal debut at Penn, but not her family’s. She attended high school in Texas, meaning a Penn Relays trip was never available. But Brandi’s father, Tyrone Cross, attended Fairmont Heights H.S. in Maryland, which won the Relays 4×800 in 1979. And Tyrone’s father, Douglas Cross, ran on the winning 4×100 team for McKinley Tech/D.C. in 1961.
A&M and LSU will also be on hand for the race. A&M uses a squad of Tresha Henry, Clora Williams, Sandy Wooten and Katie Baker. Wooten, a freshman, ran 53.84 last year at Mineral Wells H.S., Texas. Williams, who missed much of the winter indoor season, is now rounding into form. She was NCAA outdoor champion last year, at 51.11.
LSU uses Wilson, Thomas, Carliesa Menkes, Lawrence and Rooks. The Lady Tigers have won this event only twice at the Relays, in 1987 and 1993. South Carolina has won it five times this decade.
Jamaica’s UTech has a fine team, featuring Nyoka Cole and Kaliese Spencer. UTech ran 3:32.97 at the Gibson Relays.
Miami is defending champion, having run 3:27.85 a year ago in a tremendous race with Auburn (3:27.93) and LSU (3:27.96). UTech was fourth (3:31.08).
Others potential finalists include TCU, Florida State, St. Augustine’s, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Essex County and Cornell. Penn State’s Shana Cox ran 51.81 in the open 400m over the weekend at the Sea-Ray Relays.
Written by: Jack Pfeifer
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