UW women break 4 x 800 NCAA record, win Penn in 8:17.45 after Providence gets DQd

As awesome! As super fast.

Seems odd to make a thread about this race without mentioning that Washington actually finished second to Providence, but they ended up getting DQ'd.

Four by eight-hundred meters would be an excellent Olympic and w.c. event. Nations known for sprinting can find four 800m athletes, nations known for Marathon racing can find four 800m athletes and of course there are nations known for middle distance racing. Four by 400m should have been added to Olympic and w.c. schedule before 4 x 400m mixed gender. Most nations do not have elite or near elite 400m athletes. On an international level, women will race 4 x 400m in less than 8:15 and men will race 4 x 400m in less than 7:10. Events would be completed between tv commercial blocks. Note: At Olympics, S&D is as popular as T&F on television. S&D can fit most of their events between commercial blocks.

Providence fell in NCAA medley and finished 6 indoors, a race they would have won. Now the 800's dropping baton, two dreadfully mishandled races. Maybe it comes from a curse of not defending the 4X1500?

I thought forester impeded Flockhart a lot on the final turn and should be DQ's

Impeded on the final turn, yes. But the dropped baton had nothing to do with that. The dropped baton happened several seconds after the turn.

Hard to tell in the straightaway video posted by citius mag — was there contact that knocked the baton out of providence anchor’s hand?

there was contact. though i'm inclined to say it's mostly providence's fault, tangling up with washington as she tried to cut her off. what an ugly race.

Man what a tough break. Really hard to tell what happened. Did she just drop it or was there contact?

There was contact for sure. But that wouldn't have happened if Providence hadn't moved over to lane 2.

Thought an event like that would have a faster record but still not bad.

This 100+. WA was in lane 2 in the dash to the finish line.

Flockhart ran faster due to pure hate, which also caused her to drop the stick. Truly a double-edged sword there.

Washington women have a history of rough play.

Drop occurs at 10:23. I don't know why she didn't stop and grab the baton. They wouldn't have won but easily had enough time to still secure a 2nd place finish. Contrast this to the drop by Duke at ACC Indoors when the baton was knocked out only about two steps from the finish.

Because nobody cares if you get 2nd?