PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, April 27–29 — Heading into the 127th Penn Relays, there was considerable hype surrounding the men’s 4 x Mile.
Washington, with its seemingly infinite supply of sub-4:00 runners, was coming to town and there was speculation that the Collegiate Record (16:03.24 by Oregon in ’09), and perhaps even the WR (15:49.08 by Ireland in ’85), were under threat during Saturday’s final session at Franklin Field. The Huskies were sporting a lineup with the reigning NCAA champions in the 1500 and mile, Joe Waskom and Luke Houser.
Alas, record ambitions went out the window early as the race turned tactical, but it still delivered on the buzz with a thrilling finish. Emerging from a cluster of 10 teams still in contention at the bell, Villanova’s Liam Murphy went wide in the final 50m to steal the win in 16:14.03. The first 6 teams were separated by just 0.64, with Wisconsin (16:14.24) in 2nd and Washington (16:14.31) 3rd.
In 4th at 16:14.48, Virginia’s all-U.S. foursome lowered by 0.26 the American Collegiate Record set in ’10 by Oregon when current Cavaliers’ coach Vin Lananna guided the Duck program.
“Definitely on the last lap and a half it got really physical,” said Murphy, this year’s Big East Indoor 3000 champion. “Guys were trying to find the position they wanted to be in and there was a lot of shoving and tripping, so I just wanted to stay out of it.”
Murphy redeemed himself following the previous day’s DMR anchor, where he took the lead with 200 to go and was run down by Adam Spencer, who brought Wisconsin home first in 9:33.82.
“My coaches told me I probably went a little too early yesterday,” Murphy said of Nova’s runner-up finish, “so I definitely wanted to wait longer today. At one point I thought I had waited too long.”
The DMR was held during Friday’s unrelenting deluge, but by Saturday the forecast improved, the rain held off and relatively warmer temperatures (topping off at about 60F/16C) were friendlier.
The weather still wasn’t optimal for sprinting, but Houston’s Shaun Maswanganyi put together a quality double, anchoring the winning 4×1 and coming back a little more than an hour later to take the 100 (10.40 into a 1.3 wind).
The 4×1 victory was Houston’s fourth straight at Penn, and Maswanganyi was feeling the pressure to keep the Cougar streak alive.
“Standing there it was a little nerve-wracking,” he said, “but I knew I’ve done it before, so I calmed myself down and trusted my process and trusted my practice. I knew if I got the stick and it was close I could catch them.”
Jamaican college G.C. Foster put up a good fight, but Maswanganyi won comfortably by 0.05 in 39.40.
The 100 was unspectacular statistically, but the South African was pleased with his effort.
“Meets like this prepare me for bigger championships, because the weather is unpredictable and you always have to go out and compete,” Maswanganyi said. “I feel like there’s still more to work on. Conference championships coming up, Regionals and Nationals and I hope to be there.”
Mississippi climbed to No. 5 on the all-time collegiate list in the 4 x 800 (7:12.37) thanks to a perfectly timed kick from Baylor Franklin, who came from behind to outmaneuver Penn State (7:12.96, No. 10 all-time) and Iowa State (7:13.94).
“I just looked at the back of their jerseys and the crowd took me the rest of the way,” said Franklin, who finished 6th in the NCAA Indoor 800.
The top field mark came from Jordan Geist, the lone Arizona entrant in the meet. Given his history at Penn — three straight titles in the prep SP (2015–17) — the Wildcats sent the fifth-year senior back to his home state for a farewell performance. He did not disappoint, breaking the meet record in the fifth round with a 68-7¾ (20.92) heave. All 6 of his throws would have been enough to win the event. On Instagram he thanked Arizona “for allowing me to celebrate senior night with a different kind of home crowd!”
Geist also finished 3rd in the hammer, which was won by Harvard’s Kenneth Ikeji, who took down a meet record as well, reaching 243-2 (74.12).
On the pro side, Geordie Beamish won a tactical mile in 3:57.68, gesturing to the crowd. “Hopefully it was entertaining for everyone,” the cheeky Kiwi said after pulling away from training partner Mario García (3:57.98) in the final 30m.
Devon Allen closed hard off the final barrier to edge Brazilian Rafael Pereira in the 110H, winning a photofinish by 0.002 in 13.46. Allen, who is going into his second season on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad, had only been doing track-specific training since the first week of March and ran his first race of the year a week earlier.
“To start the season early with a competitive race is super good,” he said. “When you’ve got somebody right next to you, you start to focus on them a little bit, and that’s the goal — not to focus on them. It helps you practice as the season progresses. It’s good to have that because I don’t want the first time I have people around me to be at the World Champs.” Or the WC Trials, one guesses.
PENN RELAYS MEN’S RESULTS
(4/27—1500, CollSt, 400H, HT; 4/28—St, 4×200, SM, DM)
100(-1.3): 1. *Shaun Maswanganyi’ (Hous-SA) 10.40.
400: 1. Quincy Hall (adidas) 46.09.
600: 1. Kameron Jones (TS) 1:16.04; 2. CJ Jones (US) 1:16.37; 3. Vincent Crisp (UArm) 1:16.55.
1500: 1. Gavin Gaynor (unat) 3:40.24.
Mile: 1. Geordie Beamish’ (NZ) 3:57.68; 2. Mario García’ (Spa) 3:57.98;
3. Eric Holt (EmpE) 3:58.01 (out AL);
4. Festus Lagat’ (Ken) 3:58.13; 5. Callum Elson’ (GB) 3:58.74; 6. Dan Schaffer (Zap) 3:58.85; 7. Austin Miller (US) 3:59.28; 8. Rob Napolitano’ (PR) 3:59.38; 9. Joe Klecker (OAC) 3:59.49.
St: I–1. Isaac Updike (Nike) 8:39.21; 2. Joey Berriatua (TinE) 8:44.88; 3. Andrew Bayer (unat) 8:45.45. II–1. *Zach Jaeger (GaT) 8:40.74; 2. *Tom Seitzer (NDm) 8:41.15; 3. Kevin Robertson’ (Can) 8:44.32.
110H: I(-1.0)–1. Devon Allen (Nike) 13.46; 2. Rafael Pereira’ (Bra) 13.46; 3. Michael Dickson (US) 13.66; 4. Orlando Bennett’ (Jam) 13.68. II(-0.5)–1. *De’Vion Wilson (Hous) 13.64; 2. Tayshaun Chisholm (DeSt) 13.75; 3. *Connor Schulman (TxAM) 13.77.
400H: 1. Moitalel Mpoke’ (Aub-Ken) 49.81; 2. Wellington Ventura’ (DR) 50.55; 3. James Smith (US) 50.77.
5000W: 1. Nick Christie (unat) 19:49.67; 2. Tyler Wilson’ (Can) 21:34.25; 3. Carson Johnson (unat) 22:26.34; 4. Pablo Sanz Rillo’ (Spa) 23:10.21.
Relay Events
4 x 100: 1. Houston 39.40.
4 x 200: 1. G.C. Foster (Jam) 1:23.20.
4 x 400: 1. TCU 3:04.41 (Brown, James, Seete 45.72, Jordan 46.33); 2. Texas A&M 3:04.52 (Escobar 45.94); 3. Penn State 3:06.17; 4. G.C. Foster 3:06.36 (Barnes 44.50).
4 x 800: 1. Mississippi 7:12.37 (WL, CL) (5 C; #5 school) (Flatt 1:50.85, Bracken 1:47.04, Crorken’ 1:46.70, Franklin 1:47.78); 2. Penn State 7:12.96 (10 C) (Dorenkamp 1:48.65, Smallwood 1:48.49, Desmeules’ 1:47.37, Roban 1:48.45);
3. Iowa State 7:13.94 (Smith 1:48.95, Kipyego 1:47.09, Rop 1:47.91, Gomez 1:49.99);
4. Texas A&M 7:14.50 (AL) (Whitmarsh 1:46.72);
5. Oklahoma State 7:15.13 (Yanouri 1:48.59); 6. Indiana 7:20.96; 7. Penn 7:22.71; 8. Virginia 7:23.08; 9. Washington 7:28.40; 10. Michigan 7:29.69.
4 x Mile: 1. Villanova 16:14.03 (WL, CL) (10 C) (Donoghue 4:01.24, O’Donovan 4:01.79, Dolan 4:00.81, Murphy 4:10.19); 2. Wisconsin 16:14.24 (#6 school) (Sharp 4:01.30, Liking 4:01.67, Meijer 4:01.92, Spencer 4:09.35); 3. Washington 16:14.31 (#7 school) (Ahl 4:03.20, Ellis 3:58.38, Waskom 4:02.53, Houser 4:10.20);
4. Virginia 16:14.48 AmCR (old AmCR 16:15.14 Oregon ’10) (AL) (5 A; #8 school) (Porter 4:02.08, Martin 3:58.23, Mountain 4:03.49, Murphy 4:10.68);
5. Georgetown 16:14.64 (6 A; #10 school) (Gilmore 4:01.62, Teffra 3:59.90, Rizzo 4:02.48, Payamps 4:10.64);
6. Duke 16:14.67 (7 A) (Gabay 4:03.15, Lee 4:01.35, Wittstadt 4:02.90, Dahl 4:07.27);
7. Oklahoma State 16:15.17 (Messaoudi 4:11.46); 8. Michigan 16:16.00 (Hancock 4:09.08); 9. Notre Dame 16:16.01 (Solomon 4:00.61); 10. Iona 16:17.46.
SpMed: 1. Clemson 3:23.12; 2. UConn 3:25.34.
DisMed: 1. Wisconsin 9:33.82 (Sharp 2:56.22, Enz 47.68, Hassan’ 1:47.13, Spencer 4:01.79); 2. Villanova 9:34.83 (O’Donovan 2:53.71, Milgie 47.95, Dolan 1:47.13, Murphy 4:03.64); 3. Virginia 9:35.60 (Murphy 4:04.20); 4. Georgetown 9:36.16; 5. Mississippi 9:36.53; 6. Duke 9:36.96; 7. Oklahoma State 9:37.41; 8. Michigan 9:43.88; 9. Davidson 9:44.09.
Field Events
HJ: 1. *Romaine Beckford’ (SFl-Jam) 7-1¾ (2.18); 2. *Shaun Miller’ (Oh-StBah) 7-1¾.
PV: 1. *Shane Racey (Corn) 17-5½ (5.32).
LJ: 1. Jamar Davis (NCSt) 24-4¼ (7.42).
TJ: 1. *Clarence Foot-Talley (OhSt) 54-10 (16.71); 2. Malik Cunningham’ (Vill-Jam) 52-9¼ (16.08); 3. Lloyd McCurdy (Guy) 51-9¾ (15.79); 4. *Jakari Lomax (Young) 51-3½ (15.63).
SP: 1. Jordan Geist (Az) 68-7¾ (20.92); 2. **Jason Swarens (Wi) 67-½ (20.43); 3. Fred Moudani’ (Cinc-Fra) 65-8¾ (20.03); 4. *Alexander Kolesnikoff’ (Harv-Aus) 65-1½ (19.85);5. Ralph Casper (WChest) 64-2¼ (19.56).
DT: 1. Kai Chang’ (Jam) 198-11 (60.62); 2. Robbie Otal (Duke) 186-7 (56.88).
HT: 1. **Kenneth Ikeji’ (Harv-GB) 243-2 (74.12); 2. Tyler Merkley (PennSt) 241-6 (73.61); 3. Geist 235-3 (71.71); 4. *Cameron Smith (Army) 218-8 (66.67).
JT: 1. **James Kotowski (UMLow) 231-0 (70.42); 2. *Braden Presser (Navy) 229-10 (70.05); 3. *Luke Jackson (Duke) 226-6 (69.04); 4. Joshua Mather’ (Can) 225-0 (68.59). ◻︎