2013 Penn Relays 4 x 1500: Michigan’s All-In Bet Is Rewarded

by LetsRun.com
April 26, 2013

Indoors at NCAAs, the Michigan women put all of their eggs in one basket as they bypassed individual events to focus on the DMR and the Wolverines were rewarded with a victory.

It was more of the same today at the 2013 Penn Relays. A day after not running the women’s distance medley relay so the Wolverines could focus on today’s  4 x 1500, the Wolverines were rewarded with a quick 17:15.47 victory as Oregon was second in 17:16.50, with  Villanova, who won the DMR yesterday, third in 17:17.57. All three of those times are in the top 10 fastest ever recorded at Penn Relays.

Nice Leadoff Leg By Shannon Osika

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Thing started very well for Michigan as the leadoff leg, red-shirt freshman Shannon Osika, the one member of today’s squad who wasn’t on the Michigan’s winning indoor DMR team, kept Michigan in it. The Penn Relays website says Osiki had the fastest leadoff split at 4:22.3 but that’s not the case. In reality, she was third as Villanova led but for all practical purposes Michigan, Oregon and Villanova were pretty much even and would remain so for most of the race.

You could still throw a blanket over Michigan and Villanova after the second leg with Oregon less than five meters back (and right back up there 100 meters into leg three). After a 2:18 first 800 to open leg three (maybe 2:16-7 for Kesselring) of the third leg, Oregon’s Anne Kesselring, the 2011 NCAA 800 champ, soon took the lead and tried to shake things up. In the end, Kesselring would hand off in second just behind Michigan, but Kesselring ended up with the fastest split of the day (4:14.3) as she and Michigan’s Rebecca Addison (4:15.0) pulled 20 meters clear of Villanova’s Angel Piccirillo (4:19.1), who had run leadoff for the Wildcats in Thursday’s DMR.

1 lap to go 1 lap to go

On the anchor, Michigan’s Amanda Eccleston (4:19.6), who brought home the DMR title indoors, brought home the Penn Relays title here tahnks to roughly a 65 flat last lap as she pulled away from Oregon’s Becca Friday (4:20.3) over the last 150. Villanova anchor Emily Lippari, who got the job done in the DMR on Friday, got ‘Nova back within about 5 meters of the lead at the bell and actually had the fastest split of all the anchors (4:17.5) as Villanova ended up third.

Results and quick takes below.

Quick Take #1: That was some nice running on leg #3 by Kesselring and Addison. Addison split 4:15.o and her pb is 4:17.16. Kesselring split 4:14.3 and her pb is 4:15.23.

Quick Take #2: What a 5th year for Eccleston. The magna cum laude grad of Hillsdale College (DII) is now an NCAA D1 and Penn Relays champ.

Quick Take #3: Oregon also bypassed yesterday’s DMR to focus on this race.

 

Results

Eccleston indoors at NCAAs
PL School/Affiliation Mark Athletes ID
1 Michigan 17:15.47 Shannon Osika (4:22.3), Jillian Smith (4:18.6), Rebecca Addison (4:15.0), Amanda Eccleston (4:19.6) D
2 Oregon 17:16.50 Megan Patrignelli (4:22.8), Annie Leblanc (4:19.1), Anne Kesselring (4:14.3), Becca Friday (4:20.3) A
3 Villanova 17:17.57 Stephanie Schappert (4:22.9), (4:18.0), Angel Piccirillo (4:19.1), Emily Lipari (4:17.5) C
4 Penn State 18:02.32 Marta Klebe (4:23.1), Caitlin Lane (4:31.5), Brooklyne Ridder (4:31.6), Sarah Jane Underwood (4:36.1) L
5 Indiana 18:09.41 Samantha Ginther (4:29.5), Kelsey Duerksen (4:25.9), Ashley Seymour (4:32.8), Caitlin Engel (4:41.2) M
6 Tennessee 18:12.51 Alexis Panisse (4:25.7), Kelsey Kane (4:30.2), Amirah Johnson (4:30.8), Hannah Davidson (4:45.8) G
7 Mississippi State 18:20.90 Chloe Phillips (4:29.7), Nicky Akande (4:37.5), Emma Neigel (4:38.3), Renee Masterson (4:38.4) K
8 Clemson 18:26.16 Natalie Anthony (4:31.9), Brianna Blanton (4:35.4), Lisa Girard (4:37.4), Erin Barker (4:41.5) H
9 Richmond 18:26.50 I

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