Winners Table

FRIDAY STORY: Make it 3-in-a-row for PA in the DMR - PA's Micikas beats FL Champ in 3K

THURSDAY STORY: Tatnell 1st DE Penn Relays title ever - #5 Relays' mile

Field, race, and Interview Videos from The 115th Penn Relays

Live video of select events

Live blog by The Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Content-Length: 33770 Penn Relays

Schedule and Results

SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS

7:30.67 for Albemarle 4x8, Morris Hills 2nd

FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS

Upper Dublin wins DMR, Micikas over Haile in 3K  

Justin Shirk (Harrisburg, PA) leading Javelin with 220-03 toss US#1

Nick Vena (Morristown, NJ) wins shot with 72-02.5 foot bomb, US#1 and US#6 All Time

Vere Tech wins girls 4x100 COA in 45.10

Aslynn Halvorson (Butler, NC)wins girls discus with 161-08 US#4 throw.

Four Pennslyvani teams qualify for boys 4x800m COA as 7:55.38 the cut off.

Tatnell, DE wins states first ever title

by Tim Fulton

After a long day of girls 4x100m and 4x400m relays the crowd was waiting for big things on Thursday night in the girls DMR, mile, and 3000m. They weren't disapointed.

The DMR's storyline was would Southern Regional's Jillian Smith be close enough to run down the leader on the 1600m anchor leg. Tatnell, DE stormed to the lead early on and after the final exchange they still were out front of Shenendehow, NY. Southern Regional took the stick in 7th.

Smith imediatley shot into 3rd and closed on Shen before going right by. With two laps to go it looked like Smith had a chance. Tatnell's Juliet Bottorff was looking at the jumbo screen to check on Smith, though the announcer's constant updates kept her appraised.

As Bottorff rounded the 2nd the last turn, the lead was close to 40 meters and it became clear that Tatnell was going to accomplish something no school in their state ever had - they were going to win a Penn Relays Championship of America plaque. The squad of Katie Buenaga (3:33.3), Tia Cooper (57.4), Carly Simmons (2:19.4), and Bottorff (4:59.3) ran 11:49.37.

The girls mile as the next event on the track. Most fans and experts agreed that the mile was the weaker of the two distance events (mile, 3K) and the lack of depth in the field was evident right away as Chelsey Sveinsson of Greenhill School, TX shot to the lead and was never challenged. Natalie Bower, Latrobe PA, was the only other runner under 5 as she captured 2nd.

Hempstead's Charlene Lipsey, who had run the 4x100m and 4x400m earlier in the day, make a slight challenge on lap one but that was it. Sveinsson cruided to the win in 4:46.85, the 5th best time in Relays history.

As the gun went off in the 3,000 meter you could sense the anticipation of the crowd. There were some very big names in this race with Stephanie Morgan, Emily Jones, Shelby Greany, Aisling Cuffe, Emily Lipari, Melanie Thompson, Samantha Nadel, and Chelsea Ley all toeing the line. All of them have been Footlocker finalists or national champions.

Roslyn, NY's Emily Lipari shot to the front and fought the strong wind, something that seemed to backfire on her as she faded after she took the field through the 1600m in 5:10. That's when Bromfield's Emily Jones took over and tried to take the kick out of Suffern's Shelby Greany and Barnesville's Stephanie Morgan, the only two girls to follow Bromfield.

As Bromfield took the bell Greany was on her shoulder and Morgan 5 yards back. But as soon as they got to the back stretch, Morgan shifted gears and looked poised to take the lead. She did just that with 200m to go and went on to win in 9:31.32, the 5th fastest in Relays history. Jones was 2nd in 9:32.22 with Greany 3rd in 9:35.42.

Earlier in the day Jamaica's Holmwood Tech proved their strength by having the fastest qualifiers in all three relays (4x1, 4x4, 4x8). Eleanor Roosevelt, MD and Elizabth Seton, MD were the only US schools to qualify for the 4x100m Championship of America while Rancho Verde, CA and Oxon Hill, MD both made it into the 4x400m Championship of America.

RESULTS

Winners table

4x800-meter relay

Holmwood Tech, Jamaica
9:08.33 - Fastest Qualifier

Photo by Tim Fulton, ArmoryTrack.com