PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, April 25–27 — The 128th Penn Relays featured a mix of old standbys (Villanova), new contenders (South Florida) and plenty of close races. Villanova led a massive revision of the all-time list in the 4 x Mile, with three teams breaking 16:00.
The Wildcats’ Liam Murphy doubled his anchor-leg heroics from last year, coming out ahead in homestretch battles in Friday’s DMR and Saturday’s 4 x Mile. In the DMR he swung wide off the final turn to finish a tactical win over Georgetown, 9:35.90–9:36.37.
Less than 24 hours later the 4 x Mile was both competitive and fast, with Villanova, Georgetown and Virginia locked in a three-way battle over the anchor leg. Murphy pulled ahead of UVa’s Gary Martin in the final 50 meters to stop the clock in 15:51.91. That’s the second-fastest time ever, behind Ireland’s 15:49.08 from ’85, and smashed Oregon’s 16:03.24 Collegiate Record from ’09.
“Getting the record was a bonus,” said Murphy, who split 3:54.32. “Coming in here today, there was a little pressure off after winning yesterday, so it’s a different mindset. A lot different than last year when we lost the DMR coming into the 4 x Mile. So I was a little more relaxed this year.”
Running the opening legs for Nova were Sean Donoghue (3:59.32), Charlie O’Donovan (4:00.09) and Marco Langon (3:58.18).
Virginia (15:52.30) moved into the No. 4 spot on the all-time list, while Georgetown (15:52.56) broke the American Record in 3rd. Hoyas anchor Abel Teffra (3:54.25) had the fastest carry of the day, slightly faster than Murphy.
In the shorter races, South Florida continued its emergence as a sprint powerhouse. Three weeks after Abdul-Rasheed Saminu ran the 100 in a windy 9.95, the Bulls came to Philadelphia intent on disrupting the recent Franklin Field domination by Houston.
In Friday’s 4 x 200, Saminu, Shevioe Reid, Jaleel Croal, and Nathan Metelus clocked 1:22.08 for the win, with Metelus pulling away from Houston’s Shaun Maswanganyi in the closing meters.
The next day, Houston was looking to grab its fifth straight win in the Penn 4 x 100, a streak that began before the pandemic. But once again, South Florida had an answer. Zayquan Lincoln led off, followed by Croal, Reid and Saminu, who out-leaned Maswanganyi to take a 39.34 to 39.35 win.
“The coaches have been doing a great job and our whole team is comfortable,” Croal said. “We all set goals in the fall, and we all agreed that we wanted to win, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Houston didn’t come away empty-handed, with Louie Hinchliffe, a Brit who transferred from Washington State, winning the 100 in 10.21 and De’Vion Wilson taking the 110 hurdles for the second year a row, in 13.38.
Texas A&M scored a pair of relay wins, taking the 4 x 400 (3:01.52) and 4 x 800 (7:13.98), thanks to decisive anchors from Auhmad Robinson (44.79) and Sam Whitmarsh (1:45.02), respectively. TCU won the sprint medley in 3:18.71.
On the field, NCAA champ Kenneth Ikeji of Harvard inched past his own meet record from last year to win the hammer with a 243-3 (74.15) effort in the fifth round.
A late entry into the men’s mile, Yared Nuguse took the win in 3:51.06, pulling away from On Athletics Club teammate Olli Hoare (3:51.28) and Eric Holt (3:51.46) down the stretch. All three were under the previous meet record (3:53.2), set 50 years ago by Tony Waldrup, a performance that landed on the Track & Field News cover.
Geordie Beamish, another member of the OAC, was the pacer, leading the field through the first three laps. With Hoare chasing the Olympic qualifying standard (3:50.40), Nuguse swung wide and didn’t make a decisive move until 60 meters to go. “The first couple of laps felt like a workout,” Nuguse said of running with Beamish and Hoare. “Once things started picking up it was a race. And we’re always excited to race each other, it’s fun to see where we’re all at.”
OAC coach Dathan Ritzenhein was pleased with the results — and the experience. “End of April in Philly, you never know what you’re gonna get,” he said of the cool and windy conditions. “And I think we get so used to the kind of races where everything’s set up with Wavelights and perfect conditions and you get used to those summer performances. But for us this is a great chance to get in here, get close to the crowd and feel the atmosphere.”
PENN RELAYS MEN’S RESULTS
100(0.8): 1. **Louie Hinchliffe’ (Hous-GB) 10.21; 2. Shaun Maswanganyi’ (Hous-SA) 10.26.
800: 1. Festus Lagat’ (Ken) 1:46.76; 2. Mario García’ (Spa) 1:47.18; 3. Navasky Anderson’ (Jam) 1:47.58.
Mile: 1. Yared Nuguse (US) 3:51.06 (out WL);
2. Olli Hoare’ (Aus) 3:51.28; 3. Eric Holt (US) 3:51.46 PR; 4. Benjamin Allen (US) 3:53.62 PR; 5. AJ Ernst (US) 3:54.33 PR.
St: 1. *Kristian Imroth (EnKy) 8:35.32; 2. Brett Gardner (NCSt) 8:36.23; 3. *Patrick Thygesen’ (Prov-Aus) 8:37.32;
4. **Logan Measner (Wi) 8:37.40.
10,000: 1. *Joshua Methner (NDm) 28:43.53.
110H(0.9): 1. De’Vion Wilson (Hous) 13.38; 2. **Jason Holmes (NCAT) 13.43; 3. Connor Schulman (TxAM) 13.51; 4. *Samuel Bennett’ (How-GB) 13.59.
400H: 1. **Devin Nugent (Pitt) 50.84.
5000W: 1. Manuel Soto’ (Col) 19:29.31 PR; 2. Nick Christie (US) 19:46.66 PR.
Relay Events
4 x 100: 1. South Florida 39.34; 2. Houston 39.35; 3. G.C. Foster’ (Jam) 39.86.
4 x 200: 1. South Florida 1:22.08; 2. Houston 1:22.42; 3. Foster’ 1:23.74.
4 x 400: 1. Texas A&M 3:01.52 (O’Bryant, Scott, Zamzow 45.33, Robinson 44.78); 2. Arizona State 3:02.02 (Robinson, Felix’, Ramey 46.03, Davis 45.18); 3. South Florida 3:02.43 (Bouie, Reid’, Archer 45.57, Moronta’ 44.68); 4. Foster’ 3:06.98; 5. Norfolk State 3:06.99 (Bond 45.08).
4 x 800: 1. Texas A&M 7:13.98 (Farquharson’ 1:51.27, Norris 1:48.54, Cawthra 1:49.15, Whitmarsh 1:45.02); 2. Oregon 7:15.46; 3. Virginia 7:16.75; 4. Georgetown 7:17.13; 5. Villanova 7:17.28.
4 x Mile: 1. Villanova 15:51.91 CR (old CR 16:03.24 Oregon ’09) (Sean Donoghue’ 3:59.32, Charlie O’Donovan’ 4:00.09, Marco Langon 3:58.18, Liam Murphy 3:54.32) (2W);
2. Virginia 15:52.30 (4W, 2C; #2 school) (Porter 3:59.17, Anthony’ 4:00.95, Sado 3:56.97, Martin 3:55.21);
3. Georgetown 15:52.56 AR (old AR 16:08.54 Athletics West ’84; old absolute AR 16:03.68i Brooks Beasts ’19) (Lucas Guerra 3:59.61, Parker Stokes 3:59.89, Camden Gilmore 3:58.81, Abel Teffra 3:54.25) (5W, 3 C; #3 school);
4. Iona 16:07.39 (6C; #6 school);
5. Notre Dame 16:08.65 (4A, 8C; #8 school);
6. Michigan 16:16.38; 7. Wisconsin 16:18.64.
(best-ever mark-for-place: 2–3)
SpMed: 1. TCU 3:18.71; 2. Penn State 3:19.38; 3. Rhode Island 3:21.51; 4. Clemson 3:23.06.
DisMed: 1. Villanova 9:35.90; 2. Georgetown 9:36.37; 3. Virginia 9:36.61; 4. Oregon 9:36.89; 5. Duke 9:37.24.
Field Events
HJ: 1. Kyle Rollins (US) 7-3¾ (2.23); 2. Jonas Wagner (Ger) 7-2½ (2.20).
PV: 1. *James Rhoads (Penn) 17-7 (5.36).
LJ: 1. *Sincere Robinson (Rut) 25-4 (7.72).
TJ: 1. *Isaac Haywood (Norf) 51-6½ (15.71).
SP: 1. Michael Shoaf (NDm) 63-6¼ (19.36).
DT: 1. *Jacob Lemmon (Va) 197-0 (60.04); 2. **Konstantinos Bouzakis’ (Rut-Gre) 193-11 (59.12); 3. **Casey Helm (Prin) 190-9 (58.14).
HT: 1. *Kenneth Ikeji’ (Harv-GB) 243-3 (74.15); 2. Christian Johnson (Duke) 228-9 (69.72); 3. Aimar Palma Simo’ (Duke-Spa) 227-8 (69.39).
JT: 1. David Friedberg (Reinh) 242-4 (73.86); 2. Ethan Cocco (Clem) 229-7 (69.99).