Penn women BLOW it open early, then hold on and win women's DMR at Penn Relays in 10:59.44

Holy cow the ND anchor Jessica Harris ran 4:28 and lost by three seconds! That 1200 leg must be some kind of record.

a 3:22 1200 leg isn't that impressive. in fact, the 4:28 1600 leg by the runner-up is actually a faster pace!

YMMV wrote:

Holy cow the ND anchor Jessica Harris ran 4:28 and lost by three seconds! That 1200 leg must be some kind of record.

There's no way 3:22 can be the 1200 record for Penn. Just think about it. Harris ran 4:28 for 1600. That means if she ran even paced, she'd hit 1200 in 3:21 and keep going.

reed wrote:

a 3:22 1200 leg isn't that impressive. in fact, the 4:28 1600 leg by the runner-up is actually a faster pace!

That's what I was thinking. 3:22 is real good, but nothing incredible.

So why the hell did all those girls allow her to run away from them like that?

I gotta see video of this race.

Regardless, an awesome accomplishment for the Quaker girls. What a moment.

I just started randomly looking at results from some of the faster winning times at Penn. The first two I looked at were both faster.

In 2008, Michigan's Danielle Tauro split 322.2. In 2011, Georgetown's Renee Tomlin split 319.81.

PL School/Affiliation Mark Athletes ID

1 Michigan 10:49.58 Danielle Tauro (3:22.2), Serita Williams (53.4), Geena Gall (2:02.1), Nicole Edwards (4:31.9)

1 Georgetown 10:51.49 Renee Tomlin (3:19.81), Amanda Kimbers (54.54), Chelsea Cox (2:05.58), Emily Infeld (4:31.56)

Online results are available back to 2007 here:

http://pennrelaysonline.com/History/results.aspx?en=157&cy=2011

Here are the fastest winning times at Penn.

10:48.38 Villanova 1988

10:49.58 Michigan 2008

10:49.81 Villanova 1990

10:50.51 Tennessee 2008

10:51.49 Georgetown 2011

10:53.27 Villanova 1984

10:53.37 Villanova 1989

10:53.97 Tennessee 1984

10:53.97 Villanova 2017

10:54.08 Tennessee 1990

Yeah, I did the math after posting and was scratching my head as to why all the other legs were so weak. Kudos to Penn nonetheless, I don't think they take many wheels at their own invite.

The remarkable thing about the race was how unremarkable the race unfolded. Penn executed their race plan really well, ran the first sub-11 Ivy but the other teams just weren't there. Notre Dame and Nova on paper should have been closer. That's why they run the race.

I think Nia Akins had more in the tank. There was a sub-3:20 available.

In response to above post, "they don't take many wheels" - no one from their entire conference had even won a women's relay at Penn Relays before yesterday.

From the USTFCCCA site, the 1200 split in 1988 was also faster.

"Women’s DMR | Villanova – 10:48.38

The Wildcat quartet of Kathy Franey (3:21.0), Michelle Bennett (52.8), Celete Halliday (2:04.7), Vicki Huber (4:29.9) got the baton around in 10:48.38 at the 1988 Penn Relays."

I hate to say it, but Penn is officially a ghost of its old self. This from one of the die hard Penn fans. Ran in high school, many years as a spectator in adulthood, memories of the great races (Long Beach poly v Jamaica 4 x 4, U Arkansas great distance teams with Falcon, U Mich with Brannen and Willis etc etc). Now ivy winners common place (remembering the 4 x 8 Columbia men’s team ), and the glimmer is gone. Sad to see.

The quality is not what it was.

Her 400 splits on the 1200 were approximately 70, 70, 62. She just totally blew it open on the last 400 after a slowish first 800.

did anyone watch the race? my assumption was that Akins, who was the NCAA 800 runner-up by .05 in the winter, let the pace go slow before blowing it open. that's purely speculation on my end, but I'm thinking she didn't time trial from the front. 3:21 is good but not earth-shattering, harris' run was much more impressive

I was there... wrote:

Her 400 splits on the 1200 were approximately 70, 70, 62. She just totally blew it open on the last 400 after a slowish first 800.

ahh thank you

pretty crazy to see people calling penn relays dead or dying based solely off of the results of the women's dmr on a rainy, windy day in philly

as rojo and others have pointed out, Ivys often have strong distance relay teams because they are not scholarship schools. they have larger teams and carry guys that wouldn't get money at power 5s.

a distance-focused P5 isn't giving a scholarship to a 47 open 400 runner, but an ivy will carry them and that'll help on their dmr. some schools with balanced programs may only have one or two scholarship 800/mile runners, so an ivy that has 4guys between 1:48 and 1:50 may be able to beat a school that has a 1:46, 1:46 and then a big drop off. you get the idea

Not rainy or windy on Thursday. Perfect conditions during the women's DMR, no rain, low 60s and not much wind.

Not the thread I was expecting when I saw "Penn women BLOW..."

I was there... wrote:

Her 400 splits on the 1200 were approximately 70, 70, 62. She just totally blew it open on the last 400 after a slowish first 800.

Seriously? Jesus, if that's true, it's pretty amazing. Obviously indicates she could go a lot faster than 3:22.

(Also makes you wonder if she planned it that way. If so, that's one beautifully-executed race-plan.)

pennwatcher22 wrote:

pretty crazy to see people calling penn relays dead or dying based solely off of the results of the women's dmr on a rainy, windy day in philly

Check out the proliferation of ivy winners in “championship of America” races over the past 10 years. Used to be an anomaly, now a not uncommon occurrence. It’s just not the big deal it used to be.