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Lead Stories: Tuesday, December 2, 2008

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.
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Penn Relays 2007: Men’s College Relay Preview

Posted April 25th, 2007 at 4:30 PM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Is this the year of the Seminole?

Bob Braman’s Florida State men’s team are the reigning NCAA champions, and this winter they were second in the indoor meet. But—the Seminoles have never won a men’s championship at the Penn Relays.

This year they have put together another powerhouse on the track, and they will be a threat to win any event they enter:

4×100, 4×200 – The Seminoles have four different sprinters who have placed in NCAA sprint finals in the last year, led by a superstar, Walter Dix. Dix (Coral Springs, Fla.) has won NCAA championships in the 100m and the 200m, and he broke the American Junior record in the 100m two years ago, running 10.06.
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Penn Relays 2007: Women’s College Individual Events Preview

Posted April 24th, 2007 at 9:39 PM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Kelly Baptiste of LSU is back to defend her championship in the women’s 100-meter dash at this year’s Penn Relays, but she will have her hands full.

Baptiste will face Kerron Stewart of Auburn, who won both NCAA indoor sprint titles last month in Fayetteville, and Courtney Champion of Tennessee, who was second to Stewart in the 60-meter final. Baptiste finished third in that race.

A year ago, Baptiste ran 11.10 win the Relays 100, a personal best and a new national record for her native Trinidad.

Champion won the Florida Relays 100 this spring, while Stewart was second in the NCAA outdoor 100 championship last June in California.

And there are a host of other challengers in a great 100 field for the women this year, including:
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Penn Relays 2007: Boy’s High School Relay Preview

Posted April 23rd, 2007 at 9:44 PM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Yohan Blake is quickly becoming legendary in Jamaica. The question is, will he become a legend in Philadelphia?

Blake is a junior and 17-year-old sprinter for St. Jago High School. At the Jamaican High School Champs last month in Kingston he was part of four spectacular victories: he broke a famous meet record in the 100 meters, running 10.22, and won the 200 in a personal-best 20.62. He also ran legs on two winning relay teams, both of which set records in this famous meet—39.80 in the 4×100 and 3:09.51 in the 4×400. It was the first time a Jamaican schoolboy team had dipped under 40 flat.

Two weeks later, Blake won the Carifta Games 100 in 10.11 seconds, setting a meet record at these important Caribbean Junior Championships.

A year ago at the Penn Relays, Blake ran legs on St. Jago’s 4×100 and 4×400 teams. They finished third in the 4×100 in 40.59, losing to Camperdown (a meet-record 40.13) and Kingston College; in the 4×400, Blake ran a 46.2 anchor, but again it was not enough to catch Camperdown (3:11.46-3:12.40). At the Championships, Blake ran a 45.5 leg.
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Penn Relays 2007: Boys’ HS Individual Events Preview

Posted April 22nd, 2007 at 9:54 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Most Penn Relays records do not last 35 years; however, the one for the boys’ mile has stood since 1972, when Gordon Oliver (Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Md.) clocked 4:08.7.

This year’s field can probably handle that.

This is a field for the ages. It includes this year’s Millrose Games champion, Chris Moen (Walter Johnson, Md.), who has run 4:16.96; the National Scholastic Indoor champion, Charles White (Cherry Creek, Englewood, Colo.), who ran 4:10.04 at Arcadia earlier this month; Dominic Della Pelle (Salesanium, Wilmington, Del.), the defending champion, at 4:13.82; Matthew Centrowitz (Broadneck, Annapolis, Md.), winner of the 3,000 here in 2006, who has run 4:08.76; Paul Springer (Unionville, Kennett Square, Pa.), a best of 4:12.61; Andrew Perkins (Watertown, Wis.), who set a national freshman record of 4:15.07 in 2005; Luke Puskedra (Judge Memorial, Salt Lake City), 4:13.60 for 1,600 meters; Eric Avila (Bonita Vista, Chula Vista, Calif.), 4:14.9 for 1,600; and Ryan McDermott (Chaminade, Mineola, N.Y.), 4:16.96y.
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Penn Relays 2007: Boys’ HS Individual Events Preview

Posted April 22nd, 2007 at 9:49 PM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Most Penn Relays records do not last 35 years; however, the one for the boys’ mile has stood since 1972, when Gordon Oliver (Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Md.) clocked 4:08.7.

This year’s field can probably handle that.

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Penn Relays 2007: Girls’ High School Relays Preview

Posted April 21st, 2007 at 9:59 PM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

It is the best of America against the best of Jamaica in this year’s girls’ relays at Penn Relays.

In both the 4×400 and 4×800, Eleanor Roosevelt of Maryland will meet head-on against Holmwood Tech and Edwin Allen of Jamaica. Just to make it interesting, Long Beach Poly of California will join the party in the 4×400. In the 4×800, the U.S. national high school record could be on the line.

In the 4×100, Poly and another fine California school, Rancho Verde, will square off against Holmwood.

The DMR is a domestic affair, with a number of New York teams taking on New Jersey’s finest, Southern Regional, and its great anchor runner, Danielle Tauro.
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Penn Relays 2007: Girls’ HS Individual Events Preview

Posted April 20th, 2007 at 10:09 PM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Kimberly Williams of Jamaica’s Vere Tech is going for her third straight girls’ championships in the triple jump at this year’s Relays, and probably for the meet record as well.

Williams jumped exactly the same distance – 40-11 – to win the event the past two years. In Jamaica earlier this spring, she jumped 44-4 ¼, far beyond the existing meet record of 42-2 ¾ set in 1998 by Carlene Cummings of Morrow (Englewood, N.J.). There are two other 40-footers in this year’s field, Stephanie McIntyre of South Brunswick (N.J.) and Gabriela Baiter of Elwood/John Glenn (Long Island, N.Y.).

Another field record is also in danger in the shot put, where the nation’s leading putter, Kamorean Hayes of Harding (Charlotte, N.C.), is entered. Hayes has a best of 52-6 ½. The meet record was set 27 years ago by Elaine Sobansky of Trinity (Washington Pa.), at 50-0 ¾, in just the third year for the girls’ shot put at the Relays. Sobansky is the onetime national record-holder in the event.
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