Penn Relays Carnival 2005

Sam Luff was thrilled to be home. Sure, it had a lot to do with being around friends, sleeping in his own bed, and competing at tracks that were within driving distance of Emmaus. But actually, it had more to do with the air. He could breathe while running.

Eight Photo Pages of PA\'s Field Event athletes,,, plus six Photo Galleries of PA\'s athletes in the Invitational Running and Relay Events.

Select Photos from Penn Relays Boys Shot Put

Select Photos from Penn Relays Boys Pole Vault

Select Photos from Penn Relays Boys High Jump

Select Photos from Penn Relays Boys Javelin & Discus

Select Photos from Penn Relays Girls Pole Vault

Select Photos from Penn Relays Girls Discus

Select Photos from the 2005 Penn Relays - Girls Long & Triple Jumps

Select Photos from Penn Relays Girls Javelin

A collection of photos of Virginian athletes by Don Rich of the fellow MileSplit Network site, penntrackxc.com. Photos include Sarah Bowman, Matt Feiling, Thomas McCutcheon, Amanda Patterson, and Kelsey Snowden.

Virginia\'s Billie Jo Grant and Tomika Ferguson both took home runner-up honors at the prestigious Penn Relays this weekend, held at Frankllin Field at the University of Pennsylvania. Grant finished second in the discus and sixth in the shot put, while Ferguson took home the silver in the triple jump. Erin Crawford won the bronze in the intermediate hurdles, while the women\'s 4x1500m team of Shannon Hawrylo, Emily Harrison, Janine Ricci, and Sara Ensrud finished just outside the medals with a fourth-place finish, coming in at 18:16.63.

Fauquier senior Sarah Bowman defended her title in the mile at the Penn Relays and did with relatively ease in a time of 4:50.62. Bowman took the lead from the start and never looked back and she was never challenged for the lead as she won by nearly a five second margin over Danielle Tauro of New Jersey (4:55.50). The Bethel girls also had strong relay performances at Penn with fourth place finishes in the Championship of America finals in both the 4x100 (46.54) and 4x400 (3:47.50).

Virginia Tech competed well all weekend long against the best track & field teams in the nation at the Penn Relays, which was held at Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ryan Fritz didn\'t miss until his final three attempts at 7-01.50, but he cleared the big one, 7-00.50 for a new PR and the Penn Relays Championship. (He not only won the coveted Penn Relays watch, but an admiring fan). Simon Gratz had a rough start in the Philly Public League 4x400, and missed qualifying for the Championship of America in the event. Hours laters, they were DQed from the Philly area 4x400 Championship. In the 4x100 Championship of America, they placed 7th in 41.91. In the Philly Area Girls\' championship, Engineering & Science ran 3:55.41 to place 3rd. Brandon Lane was the top PA finisher in the 400 Hurdles. Conestoga Valley was the top PA finisher in the 4x800 Championship of America. Hickory\'s Eric Sparks finished 3rd in the Pole Vault. Ryan Whiting was a scratch.

The Pennsylvania distance crew surprised a few people with great showing in Distance Medley Relay, Mile and 3000... and West Catholic\'s girls suffered some bad luck to finish 3rd in the 4x400 Championship of America. Plus the Simon Gratz boys qualified for the 4x100 Championship of America.

Osayi Osunde, the Central Columbia senior, set a PR while winning the boys\' Javelin. West Catholic wins the Small Schools Championship in the 4x100. Rob Ranks, Upper St. Clair, gets second with a big throw in the Shot Put. Stacey Bilan, Central Bucks West is 3rd in the Discus. And Gwynedd-Mercy and Engineering & Science place 5th and 6th in the 4x800 Championship of America.

The Highlanders garnered one victory on the first day of competition at the Penn Relays Thursday afternoon at Franklin Field. Sophomore thrower Tiffany Evans (Dumfries, Va.) claimed first in the Shot Put Collegiate Championships. She marked a distance of 48

Running in the hottest heat, North Penn pushed the race and nearly beat Syosset NY, which had the fastest qualifier of 7:48.80. North Penn was in at 7:49.09 - both quick times for a quafifying race. But they won\'t be the only PA team in the Championship of America, and another team missed by just .03.

Nicole Leach set a meet record (breaking her own mark) in the 400 Hurdles, going 57.44. Rachel Gehret, Altoona, won the High Jump, clearing 5-08.50, and Eisenhower\'s Elisha Jones took the Javelin on the final throw of the finals over Northern\'s Amy Backel, 143-10 to 140-07. West Catholic qualifies for the Championship of America in the 4x400 with a time of 3:46.28. Five girls teams qualify for the 4x800 Championship of America, wtih Gwynedd Mercy posting the fastest time of the day in 9:08.76. (PA RESULTS AND QUOTES INCLUDED IN ARTICLE).

William and Mary men

Virginia Intermont College

Liberty University senior Danielle McNaney led from the first event on Tuesday and cruised to victory in the women

If your team is splitting their team between the Penn Relays and another meet this weekend - that\'s totally within the rules according to the PIAA.

Camden has had success in the Championship of America 4x400. Simon Gratz wants to get there. They see each other as ones to watch. The story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The lists of accepted entries for the 2005 Penn Relays Carnival relay high school events.

The lists of accepted entries for the 2005 Penn Relays Carnival Individual high school events.

The deadline for entries for high school events was Tuesday, April 5th, at 4pm. Hope you made it!

The last day to request high school entry forms for this year\'s Penn Relays is THIS Wednesday, March 30th. Requests should be made by phone to the Relays office at 215-898-6145.

The Penn Relays Carnival is just over a month away, and that means the deadlines are approaching as fast as the 60 meter dash wall at the Armory. This year, from one page, you can access all the information you need. The High School deadline is Tue April 5th at 4pm. More...

According to PIAA Assistant Executive Director Jodi Good, the state associations of Pennsylvania and New York have reached an agreement to enable non-member schools from any state to compete against NY athletes in any event in any sport in PA.

This installment on the sanctioning crisis takes the pulse of several of the hottest fronts - some with immediate impact, and some that could have an impact on the sport for many years to come. There\'s a banning in Boston as an elite \'sanctioned\' athlete is missing the chance of a season to race against the best. There are interpretations upon interpretations about sanctioning forms that seem to say similar things, but aren\'t recognized by other states. There is a meet that is doing their own preemptive preventive measures to try to avoid the mess. And there\'s a possibility on the horizon that a major meet may be forced to choose between states. Oh, and there are rumors.