Villanova’s Jordan Williamsz Made Him Work For It, But In The End, Oregon and Edward Cheserek Win The Men’s DMR at The 2015 Penn Relays

by LetsRun.com
April 24, 2015

Oregon’s Edward Cheserek had to work for it, but in the end, he found a way to get past Villanova’s Jordan Wiliamsz to win the men’s distance medley relay at the 2015 Penn Relays today. After a 3:59.44 final leg, Cheserek and Oregon were your winners for the second year in a row in 9:33.86 as Nova and Wiliamsz (3:58.94) were second in 9:34.36.

The Race

Columbia was the surprising leader after the three opening legs, but there was no way sophomore Rob Napolitano, a 4:00 performer indoors, was going to run away from the guys behind him. Cheserek and Williamsz — both 3:36 guys — were lurking not too far behind. Oregon’s Cheserek was about 10 meters back (1.43 seconds) and Villanova with Williamsz was just a second behind Cheserek.

300 meters into the anchor leg, King Ches was with the leader and it soon just became a wait for the last lap.

On the last lap, Cheserek didn’t blow things open on the backstretch like last year. Instead it was Williamsz who took the lead with about 250 to go with an inside move. Cheserek responded and went after Williamsz. Williamsz made Cheserek dig deep and there was even contact between the two near the end of the final turn. Once Cheserek got the lead with a little more than 100 to go, he never relinquished it but he had to dig deep and repeatedly looked over his shoulder to make sure Williamsz wasn’t getting a second wind.

Cheserek admitted he had to work for it after the race was over. “It was really tough,” said Cheserek on the FloPro broadcast after the race before adding a somewhat contradictory message of “I tried to take it easy today” as he has more races to come.

Article continues below player.

Quick Thoughts, results and screenshots below.

Quick Thought #1: This race went almost exactly as we said it would in our race preview. What we really want to see is Ches vs. Williamsz straight up or maybe the reverse of what we had today, Ches vs. Williamsz but Williamsz starts with the lead. Straight up, the edge still goes to Ches but with a lead for Williamsz of a few seconds, it would be really interesting.

Quick Thought #2: One of the reasons we don’t like the DMR nearly as much as an event as say the 4 x 800 is the fact that it all comes down to the anchor. The teams with the three fastest anchors went were all in the top 3.

College Men’s Distance Medley Championship of America Invitational

RESULTS
PL SCHOOL/AFFILIATION MARK ATHLETES ID
1 Oregon 9:33.86 Johnny Gregorek (2:58.20), Marcus Chambers (46.48), Niki Franzmair (1:49.75), Edward Cheserek (3:59.44) AA
2 Villanova 9:34.36 Dusty Solis (2:57.51), Ishmael Muhammad (48.42), Josh Lampron (1:49.51), Jordan Williamsz (3:58.94) AD
3 Stanford 9:37.11 Justin Brinkley (2:59.03), Jackson Shumway (49.15), Luke Lefebure (1:49.60), Sean McGorty (3:59.35) AF
4 Indiana 9:37.71 Tre’tez Kinnaird (2:56.91), Derrick Morgan (47.58), Daniel Kuhn (1:50.49), Rorey Hunter (4:02.74) AM
5 Columbia 9:38.23 Brendon Fish (2:56.57), Kevin Boyd (48.19), Connor Claflin (1:48.26), Rob Napolitano (4:05.23) AH
6 Oklahoma 9:42.22 Allen Eke (2:56.78), Scott Petersen (49.88), Zac Randall (1:50.37), Brandon Doughty (4:05.20) AG
7 Georgetown 9:43.64 Amos Bartelsmeyer (2:58.60), Joseph White (51.21), Billy Ledder (1:51.16), Cole Williams (4:02.68) AC
8 St. Joseph’s PA 9:43.65 Logan Mohn (2:59.51), Torey Doaty (47.41), Steve Butenewicz (1:51.38), Aaron Leskow (4:05.37) AT
9 Duke 9:44.52 Henry Farley (2:58.13), Brett Bofinger (48.07), Kyle Francis (1:53.59), Nate McClafferty (4:04.75) AE
10 La Salle 9:44.63 Stephen Lewandowski (2:59.76), Justin Guerre (48.09), Chris Sanders (1:50.30), Nick Ross (4:06.48) AN
11 Binghamton 9:48.09 Eric Holt (2:57.20), Jon Alkins (47.94), Adam McIe (1:57.13), Jesse Garn (4:05.84) AL
12 Penn 9:53.81 Clark Shurtleff (3:02.25), Tom Timmins (48.35), Drew Magaha (1:53.17), Thomas Awad (4:10.06) AJ
13 Texas A&M 9:55.46 Cameron Villarreal (2:59.06), Efrain Hernandez (48.36), Brandon Kinsey (1:53.82), Isaac Spencer (4:14.22) AI
14 Texas 10:06.28 Robert Uhr (3:04.80), Christopher Irvin (51.46), Derrell Manhertz (1:58.39), Brady Turnbull (4:11.64) AK

Screenshots from Flopro broadcast

Columbia lead early Columbia lead early
Screenshot (8) 100 into final leg
Screenshot (17) Williamsz inside move
Screenshot (10) Williamsz goes for it
Screenshot (11) A little contact never hurts anyone

Screenshot (12) Screenshot (13) Screenshot (14) Screenshot (15)

Discuss the 2015 Penn Relays on our messageboard: Official 2015 Penn Relays Live Discussion Thread.

A recap of the women’s 4 x 1500 and the other Championship of America events that were held before the DMR appear below.

College Women’s 4×1500 Championship of America Invitational

A day after coming up short in the women’s DMR, Stanford got the job done in the women’s 4×1500 today at the 2015 Penn Relays. The key to the Cardinal’s victory was superstar frosh Elise Cranny, who broke things open on the third leg.

Today, Cranny, who was beaten on the anchor leg last night, got the baton with roughly a three-second lead over UNC’s Lianne Farber, who came into Penn after running a 4:13.76 pb last week. Farber proved to be no match for Cranny. Running in very windy conditions, Cranny split 4:17.2 – the fastest split of the afternoon (Georgetown anchor Katrina Coogan also split 4:17.2) – to give Stanford a more than seven-second lead heading into the anchor leg as Farber only managed a 4:22.0. On the anchor leg, UNC’s Annie LeHardy, who also ran 4:13 last week, got to within about two seconds with 200 to go but Stanford’s Claudia Saunders had a little something in reserve as the Cardinal won comfortably in 17:27.54 to UNC’s 17:30.22.

Discuss the 2015 Penn Relays on our messageboard: Official 2015 Penn Relays Live Discussion Thread.

Results for the 4 x 1500 and the other Championship of America events held already today appear below.

RESULTS

PL SCHOOL/AFFILIATION MARK ATHLETES ID
1 Stanford 17:27.54 Rebecca Mehra (4:23.0), Jessica Tonn (4:22.2), Elise Cranny (4:17.2), Claudia Saunders (4:25.1) B
2 North Carolina 17:30.22 Elizabeth Whelan (4:24.0), Karley Rempel (4:24.1), Lianne Farber (4:22.0), Annie LeHardy (4:20.1) F
3 Georgetown 17:36.83 Hannah Neczypor (4:25.4), Haley Pierce (4:27.2), Madeline Chambers (4:27.0), Katrina Coogan (4:17.2) C
4 Dartmouth 18:00.22 Elizabeth Markowitz, Helen Schlachtenhaufen, Reid Watson, Dana Giordano E
5 Indiana 18:00.43 Brenna Calder (4:28.1), Brianna Johnson (4:25.7), Madison Stenger (4:32.6), Corinne Cominator (4:34.0) J
6 Texas 18:08.40 Katie Burford, Mary Beth Hamilton, Connor Ward, Sandie Raines H
7 Princeton 18:13.98 Megan Curham, Elizabeth Bird, Kaitlin Hanss, Zoe Sims Q
8 Clemson 18:20.73 Grace Barnett, Brianna Feerst, Katie Moses, Molly Sullivan O
9 Pittsburgh 18:39.84 Melanie Vlasic, Hana Casalnova, Dana Dellefemine, Ellen Crook P
10 Buffalo 18:48.55 Meghan Manley, Melinda Wheeler, Corinne Birchard, Amy Shaw N
Elise Cranny , Rebecca Mehra, Claudia Saunders and  Jessic Tonn after the race Elise Cranny , Rebecca Mehra, Claudia Saunders and Jessic Tonn after the race

College Women’s 4×100 Championship of America Invitational

EVENT 334FRIDAY 1:00 PM

Presented by Core Power
Records
NR Texas A&M 42.36 2009 Khrystal Carter, Porscha Lucas, Dominique Duncan, Gabby Mayo
AR National Team 40.82 2012 Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter
PR LSU 42.59 2008 Brooklynn Morris, Samantha Henry, Juanita Broaddus, Kelly-Ann Baptiste
FF LSU 42.59 2008 Brooklynn Morris, Samantha Henry, Juanita Broaddus, Kelly-Ann Baptiste

REVISED FOLLOWING HEAT 12 RUN ON FRIDAY MORNING

RESULTS

 

PL SCHOOL/AFFILIATION MARK ATHLETES ID
1 Texas A&M 43.76 Jennifer Madu, Ashton Purvis, Kamaria Brown, Aaliyah Brown AG
2 Texas 44.36 Morgan Snow, Kendall Baisden, Courtney Okolo, Morolake Akinosun AA
3 Oklahoma 45.49 Ama Pipi, Daunicia Demerson, Daye Shon Roberson, Leya Buchanan AD
4 G.C. Foster 45.54 Gayon Evans, Kedisha Dallas, Audra Segree, Yanique Thompson AH
5 South Carolina 45.74 Gabby Gray, Alexis Murphy, Ahty Johnson, Briana Haith AC
6 Houston 45.83 Bria Carter, Kiersten Brewer, Sade Mariah Greenidge, Brittany Kinney AF
7 Hampton 46.79 Kristian Young, Tanisha Greene, Meshala Morton, Le’Quisha Parker AE
8 Boston U 46.93 Maya Marshall, Christina Wood, Djenne Parris, Gemma Acheampong AI
9 UTech DNS AB

High School Girls’ 4×800 Championship of America

EVENT 337FRIDAY 1:10 PM

Presented by Grace Foods
Records
NR Roosevelt (Greenbelt, Md.) 8:43.12 2008 Dominique Lockhart (2:13.0), Amirah Johnson (2:08.6), Brittany Ogunomokun (2:11.9), Tasha Stanley (2:09.6)
PR Vere Tech (Jamaica) 8:37.71 1991 Charmane Howell (2:11.3), Claudine Williams (2:11.1), Janice Turner (2:12.1), Inez Turner (2:03.2)

RESULTS

 

PL SCHOOL/AFFILIATION MARK ATHLETES ID
1 Holmwood Tech  (Christiana, JAM) 9:01.31 Shaniekie Watson (2:17.56), Chrissiani May (2:12.95), Britney Campbell (2:19.95), Lisa Buchanan (2:10.87) F
2 Western Branch  (Chesapeake, VA) 9:07.71 Ces’shay Joyner (2:25.70), Faith Ross (2:11.20), Jewel Smith (2:22.99), Amanda Thomas (2:07.83) A
3 Vere Technical  (Clarendon, JAM) 9:13.06 Britnie Dixon (2:15.30), Sanique Walker (2:15.59), Alithia Fearon (2:24.17), Sasha-Gaye Whyte (2:18.01) B
4 Great Valley  (Malvern, PA) 9:14.81 Elise Claffey (2:19.23), Anna Willig (2:17.57), Tabitha Wismer (2:22.99), Crosby Spiess (2:15.04) E
5 Cornwall  (New Windsor, NY) 9:17.87 Jillian Decker (2:20.06), Beatrice Boylan (2:18.91), Ashley Wallace (2:22.18), Dara Cuffe (2:16.73) C
6 Unionville  (Kennett Square, PA) 9:19.39 Cami Rickenback (2:22.32), Kacie Breeeding (2:21.25), Anna Juul (2:15.33), Gretchen Mills (2:20.51) D
7 Ridge  (Basking Ridge, NJ) 9:19.82 Liz Newman (2:20.80), Kelly Van Baalen (2:21.26), Emily Hirsch (2:20.02), Abigail Regner (2:17.76) J
8 North Penn  (Lansdale, PA) 9:21.55 Ali Valenti (2:21.43), Stephanie Bresadola (2:20.39), Mikaela Vlasic (2:20.74), Phoebe Clowser (2:19.01) G
9 McDonogh School  (Owings Mills, MD) 9:26.05 Maggie Seybold (2:19.29), Jordan Burgess (2:25.07), Noemie Noullet (2:24.62), Allison Glossinger (2:17.09) H
10 Pennsbury  (Fairless Hills, PA) 9:28.88 Erin OConnell (2:24.53), Maddie Sauer (2:22.33), Olivia Sargent (2:18.48), Hannah Molloy (2:23.56) L
11 Glass  (Lynchburg, VA) 9:29.44 Holly Carrington (2:25.67), Kami DeCarmo (2:20.10), Libby Davidson (2:18.40), Maddie Rennyson (2:25.28) I
12 Wilson  (West Lawn, PA) 9:30.00 Gabriella Audi (2:27.57), Anne denOtter (2:18.89), Nijah Ukpong (2:23.78), Amina Chtourou (2:19.77) K

 

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