Back to State – An oral history of the SHC’s Girls 4X4 team qualifying for the California State Meet
This is the story of the 2023 SHC Track & Field Girls 4X400 Relay Team. The team placed 3rd at CCS Finals to qualify for the State Meet. They were the first Irish track & field athletes to qualify for State in a decade. This is their story told through the words of the runners and coaches.
PRE-RACE
COACH ANDY CHAN
Saturday morning I went for an hour plus ElliptiGo ride. I wanted to do something physical to get some of my nervous energy out and I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I thought about my pre-meet speech and later spent some time communicating with the support team (Veronica, Jordan, Ryan) about them putting up the posters (especially the Unstoppable lyric ones) on the wall before the rest of the team got to our spot.
VIVI COLWICK
Before coming to school, I was constantly thinking about how I would run and perform in the race. I was thinking “just give it your all,” “don’t let this be your last run,” and constantly thinking about my leg and how crazy it would be to get to State. I was getting my singlet in my room ready and when I left the house I thought, “Next time I’m here I’ll know if I’m going to State or not.”
KATHERINE BOREK
All I could think about was the race and how we had a chance to go to State. The season had been full of PRs, but seeing how far we’d come was truly unreal. I must have visualized my leg of the race a hundred times, but every time I pictured it, I would sweat and my heart would start pounding.
CHLOE THORPE
My mom and I drove down to Gilroy early. We had lunch then checked in at our hotel. We relaxed until it was time to head over to the track to meet the team.
TESSA WEHRLE
I was really nervous before the meet, but I was excited to see my teammates and spend more time with them. I wanted to do everything I could to ensure I ran a good race, but that just meant eating and preparing the normal way for my meets.
COACH ANDY CHAN
The arrival at our area on the warm-up field was perfect, with everyone’s eyes lighting up when they saw all the posters. Then I delivered my CCS Finals pre-meet speech:
The saying is that pressure is a privilege.
99.9% of the CCS is not feeling any pressure because they don’t have the privilege of competing today with lots on the line at CCS Finals.
You have that privilege. You earned that privilege.
I’ve been coaching 25 years at SHC. I’ve been through these situations many times. Maybe not with you, but with other SHC athletes.
These days can and do end with amazing moments filled with joy. Those moments aren’t reserved just for Bellarmine and St. Francis….or for the Shannon Rowbury’s of the world.
I believe that you can have that type of moment today. But the key is do you believe that you can?
It’s been an Unstoppable Season. Let’s do all that we can so that the season doesn’t stop today.
WARM-UP
COACH ANDY CHAN
We had someone racing almost every hour, so I occupied myself watching Miles in the 1600 and Isaiah in the 100 and 200. And I helped with the hurdle crew. After the 200’s I started to get more anxious for the 4X4 and time seemed to start to go slower.
CHLOE THORPE
All four of us jogged around the warm-up field for five minutes. I remember feeling extremely nervous while we were doing our dynamic warm-ups such as A, B, and C skips, and high knees, etc.
KATHERINE BOREK
The warm-up was very quiet. Normally, we’d be laughing and chatting, but when we warmed up for the race that night, you could almost hear everyone’s hearts beating. Our faces were all fixed and we made small comments to each other about running, mostly these were words of encouragement.
TESSA WEHRLE
I remember Coach Malik giving me tips on how to push off the blocks with power. We practiced against a fence near the back of the warm-up area. Otherwise, it was a normal warmup, but I think the four of us were all quiet during the warm-up because of how nervous we were, and trying to mentally prepare.
VIVI COLWICK
Warming up was so nerve racking. The sun was setting and once we were done it was dark and the sun had set. It was the four of us and Izzy and we were silent most of the time. We all knew what we were thinking. Coach Malik helped us warm up and told us, “This is your chance to run your best race.” Leaving the field, walking in diamond formation to the track I thought the same thing I did when I left my house which was “Next time I walk on the field I’ll know if we’re going to State or not.”
COACH ANDY CHAN
When the gun went off for the Boys 3200, I walked towards the warm-up field to find the girls. I had hoped we could all huddle but I wasn’t sure we’d all be at the same place at the same time. Coach Wilson was with me. And as the 4X4 arrived at the clerk, Coach Ted and Coach Malik were walking behind them. I remember calling everyone in for a huddle. I had planned what I wanted to say. “Your coaches are proud of you and we love you. And we will love you just as much in half an hour no matter the result.” But after that I don’t remember what I else said… just that we ended with an Unstoppable cheer.
VIVI COLWICK
I remember before the race Coach Andy had us huddle up and told us no matter the outcome of this race he would love us and be proud of us. I remember before walking to the start line our team had our huddle and Kathrine told us, “This is what we worked for, this is the race we were always running towards and we must leave everything we have on the track.”
KATHERINE BOREK
I remember getting to the tent where you stand right before you race and Chloe’s shoe laces being tied so tight that she couldn’t get her spikes on. I grabbed the shoe and was weaving out the knots while the team and all the parents watched in silence as my hands shook, waiting to see if Chloe was going to have to run barefoot. I ended up getting the knot out, but I think Chloe had to get new laces.
COACH ANDY CHAN
As I headed towards the finish line to watch the race, I saw the St. Francis team. I told their coach I was going to lean over the fence, not to distract them, but to tell his girls good luck, which I did.
At the finish line area, I checked to make sure I could see where the first 400 split was in lane 5. Then I went to stand on a small hill so I had a better view all the way around the track. Coach Wilson was along the fence past the finish line. Coach Ted and Coach Malik were right on the finish line. I noticed Coach Ted couldn’t stand still. He kept shifting his weight and bouncing up and down. I knew he was nervous.
VIVI COLWICK
Walking up to the start line, I looked through the crowds and saw all these faces of family and friends of all these runners and thought, “They came for a race and all these runners are running for a place at State,” and I smiled and brought my hands and arms up as if to say to the crowd “Let’s hear it!” I was feeling good, so nervous, but good. No matter what happens, it will happen as a team and I love this team.
COACH LLOYD WILSON
I knew last year we had a good team for this year. The girls worked hard all season. They did some hard workouts and never complained. I wasn’t sure we could make State but I knew we were ready to run fast.
COACH ANDY CHAN
Right before the gun went off, I thought about what I thought might happen. I was figuring Tessa would be in the mix somewhere between 2nd-5th but it’d be close. I figured Katherine would move us up to 2nd. And that Chloe could quite possibly give us the lead when she handed off. Then it would all come down to Vivi being able to hold off those fast anchors from Christopher and Burlingame.
LEAD-OFF LEG – TESSA WEHRLE (61.4)
TESSA WEHRLE
While setting my blocks, I felt a lot of pressure on me in the moment. All the things my coaches had said to me before were running through my head. I wanted to get a better start out of the blocks to set myself up for the rest of the race, so I tried to remember what the powerful feeling was like when I practiced on the warm-up field against the fence. I was picturing my whole race, from the gunshot to my hand off with Katherine. I wanted to set my team up for success.
KATHERINE BOREK
I remember standing in my lane, before the gun went off and seeing all the coaches standing behind me, along with my family.
IZZY GUZMAN
I remember how loud the bleachers were and how excited I was when I saw Tessa moving up in the first 200m of her race.
TESSA WEHRLE
During the first part of my leg I was just pumping my arms as fast as I could and trying to get my feet to the ground as fast as I could.
COACH ANDY CHAN
When the gun went off, Tessa seemed to get a great start. I could tell she made up the stagger on everyone outside of her. She appeared to be leading or close to the lead at 200. At 300 it seemed like she was for sure leading. Her last 75 was scary but she held on and I glanced at my watch and saw a 61 split.
SECOND LEG – KATHERINE BOREK (60.5/2:01.9)
KATHERINE BOREK
I saw Tessa sprint towards me, I grabbed the baton and I ran as fast as I could.
TESSA WEHRLE
From the last few seconds of my race, I was happy and relieved that I got it over with, and I knew that my whole team was going to do great. I was exhausted after the race. My legs were numb, and my heart was beating super fast.
COACH ANDY CHAN
When I looked up, Katherine was really moving and looked like she got the baton in 3rd. As she cut in, though, she kept moving up and didn’t hesitate to pass and put us into the lead.
VIVI COLWICK
I couldn’t watch the other legs because it would distract me but I looked up once and saw Katherine FLYING down the backstretch and I smiled and said under my breath, “Save some Katherine, save some,” and then I didn’t look up again until it was Chloe’s leg.
KATHERINE BOREK
By the time I saw Chloe waving at me to run, my legs were as heavy as bricks and all the energy I had left was used to pass off the baton.
COACH ANDY CHAN
It was so exciting seeing us in the lead. Katherine’s last 75 was tough and she fell back to 3rd. I remember yelling, “Finish,” just like I had for Tessa. And I saw that Chloe had taken off early so we exchanged late in the zone. Katherine’s split was still 60. And Chloe wasn’t far behind the leaders.
THIRD LEG – CHLOE THORPE (60.1/3:01.9)
CHLOE THORPE
As I was waiting for Katherine to hand off the baton to me, I took off a bit too early. I saw the other two teams in front. I was trying to close the gap behind those two teams, until I caught up to them. I was trying to pass the Los Altos girl, until she bumped into me before the start of the last 200 meters. Her arms were rocking side to side which caused her to bump into me. By the 150 meter to go mark I began to feel tired and then with 100 meters to go I was trying to push. Finally, I passed the baton to Vivi and collapse on the side of the field.
KATHERINE BOREK
I walked across to the grass and watched Chloe and Vivi’s legs.
COACH ANDY CHAN
It was déjà vu watching Chloe take the lead. And even though we fell back to 3rd, Chloe wasn’t far from the leaders and we had a good exchange to Vivi. Chloe split 60 and I noticed we were at 3:01 overall, which is really fast.
ANCHOR LEG – VIVI COLWICK (58.3/4:00.2)
VIVI COLWICK
I don’t remember much of watching Chloe’s leg, just thinking “Stay with it, stay with it,” and sure enough I got the baton in third place and ran my leg as hard as I could trying to keep up with the blue and white singlet (Los Altos) in front of me and letting the roar of the crowd push me to go faster.
KATHERINE BOREK
I remember seeing Viv in 3rd and I almost couldn’t believe it. I screamed so loud at her that this was for State and she had to go!!!!
COACH ANDY CHAN
Vivi got the baton and I was happy that the St Francis third runner stepped off the track so Vivi had a clear path. The Los Altos and St Francis anchors were out, and I started looking back to see where 4th and 5th place were. The PA announcer started calling Middleton and Haggerty so I knew Christopher and Burlingame were starting to close. With 250 to go, the thought flashed into my head that we didn’t have as large a lead on the anchor as we did at CCS Trials. At 200 to go, I could see Middleton gaining ground. I looked up to see where 2nd place was. I started to think that Vivi needed to catch the Los Altos girl so if Middleton caught us, we’d still be top 3.
COACH MALIK GRESHAM
I was extremely nervous and may have closed my eyes and teared up when I saw Middleton of Christopher was closing on Vivi. I wasn’t afraid of losing. I was afraid of the girl’s disappointment. I would’ve been ready to get back to work immediately and prep for next season. But they would’ve been sad and would’ve momentarily questioned the hard work they put in all year and off-season.
COACH TED LESHER
I was for sure nervous and for a few seconds I thought we were about to finish in a heart-breaking 4th.
COACH ANDY CHAN
With 100 to go, it started to look like we weren’t going to catch Los Altos but at the same time, Vivi started putting space between her and Middleton. In the last 50, it looked like we were safe but you never know. I was screaming for Vivi to finish. When she crossed the finish line I think I yelled, “Yes…..State!” I ran down the hill to be at the fence. The St. Francis coach high-fived me. The coaches all conferred to make sure we agreed that no doubt about it, we were 3rd. My watch said 4:00.2, with a 58 for Vivi.
VIVI COLWICK
I pushed and pushed and tried my very best to keep on the heels of that blue singlet (Los Altos) just a couple steps in front of me. After I finished I put my hand on the back of the St. Francis anchor and thought, “We did it!” I congratulated St. Francis and like a dead man walking went over to Katherine and Tessa where I simply stated the only thought that was running through my mind on repeat, “We did it.”
POST-RACE
CHLOE THORPE
Once the race was over, I stood up and looked over towards Vivi, Tessa, and Katherine who were huddled. I started to worry if we qualified for State because no one was saying anything. I went over to join them and Katherine said that we qualified. I felt so relieved and happy that we had qualified for State.
KATHERINE BOREK
Our whole team hugged because we had actually done it!
TESSA WEHRLE
I remember hugging my teammates and feeling really proud of all of us. I felt very supported and that there was a lot of positive energy from everyone.
COACH ANDY CHAN
I kept hitting refresh on my phone to try to get the official result and time. I texted Malinda a single word: State! Two minutes later the result came up on athletic.net – 3rd place, 4:00.27. I took a screenshot and texted it to some people from school.
VIVI COLWICK
After the race were some of the best moments of my year and maybe my life. I shared so many genuine hugs and smiles. I felt on top of the world as Alanna and Dom came up to us and told us how over the moon proud they were of us. Hearing Alanna tell me how much she loved watching me succeed this season and how proud she was of me made my heart grow and bloom like a tired flower being watered with sunlight. Tight hugs between Dom and me, as he told me how huge this is and how awesome we should feel about ourselves. Katherine and I were beaming ear to ear. I kissed Alanna’s cheek and hugged Dom and although I couldn’t speak right just yet they understood.
COACH ANDY CHAN
Pretty quickly all the coaches and the rest of the team/parents/supporters found their way to the girls on the field to congratulate them. Lots of other WCAL coaches were coming over to congratulate us. It was fun seeing all our supporters taking pictures and hugging the girls. I remember seeing Isaiah hug Tessa and call her the GOAT and comment that she was only a freshman.
VIVI COLWICK
Then the coaches came to congratulate us and that’s when I heard how close the Burlingame girl was to beating me. They all said I gave them a heart attack but I pulled through.
IZZY GUZMAN
I was very proud of the team and how hard they worked to run four flat (minutes). I also remember how proud everyone’s parents and teammates were for the 4×4 but also how sad other teams looked that their season was ending, specifically seniors who had their last race.
COACH ANDY CHAN
Chloe was at a trash can throwing up. But they called us to the podium so she joined them. I had Vivi stand up so Chloe could sit on the podium.
CHLOE THORPE
I was sitting down and I could barely stand because my glutes and hamstrings were so tired. I remember when they called our names to get on to the podium, I started feeling nauseous and I started gagging. So I ran to the trash can and was trying to throw up but nothing came up. Coach Andy came over to me and gave me some water. As all the other teams were lining up onto the podium, I walked over to the podium and was gagging crazily. While I was standing up there with my team, I was trying so hard to hold in my gags, for the pictures and the moment. Finally, once the pics were taken, Coach Malik grabbed me and helped me run back to the trash.
VIVI COLWICK
Standing on the podium after hugging my peers and teammates and watching my coaches’ smiles only get bigger and bigger was a feeling I will never forget.
COACH ANDY CHAN
I told the girls to enjoy the moment and that I was going to go eat my burrito on the warm-up field. But I didn’t get far because everyone wanted to talk. Finally, I started walking to the warm-up field and I saw Katherine kneeling on the ground. And Vivi crouched over by a bench. Apparently three of the four girls had all managed to dry heave or throw up since the race ended. Talk about leaving it all out there!
KATHERINE BOREK
After the immediate rush of qualifying for State, the race hit all of us. Chloe almost barfed on the podium (she did the moment we stepped off), then I puked when I was walking back towards the gate, then Viv threw up because she had seen me throw up. I felt horrible at the time, but it’s one of the funniest memories – us, the state qualifying team, all puking at the same time. Anyways, it showed how hard we had worked as a team to get to state and is an entertaining story to tell.
VIVI COLWICK
I was walking to the exit of the track, arm and arm with Tessa and Katherine saying, “We are going to State!” Then Katherine had a puke scare. But I had a puke moment. That was done quickly and we were back to laughing, smiling and soaking in the moment.
CHLOE THORPE
As I’m walking on the field. Katherine and Vivi came running towards me and said that both of them had thrown up as well. We all laughed and joked that once we see one person throw up the others throw up as well.
VIVI COLWICK
With the stadium lights and stars highlighting the smiles on our faces, Coach Andy pulled me aside into lane 2 on the curve where the Burlingame and Christopher girls were riding my tail and were close to beating me. He looked at me and pointed down the straight away and said “You’ll do a lot of great things in life, but I really want you to remember this moment and this last 100 meters. You pushed when you needed to push and you pulled through when we needed you to.” And in that moment I realized there will never be a moment like this ever again. I needed to recognize and really remember what had just happened. Coach Malik told me I ran my leg “perfectly, just how we’d been practicing since the winter.” My eyes were starting to fill with tears but I told myself I wasn’t going to cry. I had been wanting to find my dad and the minute I did we had this tight embrace where I just started bawling. He said to me, “You did so great, all the work paid off, all the early practices and late meets. It all paid off.” We both just smiled and cried.
COACH ANDY CHAN
We had a quick talk by the tent where I talked about it being ten years since we last went to State and how complicated my schedule was about to be because of Graduation and our upcoming trip to Fresno.
Then we sang the alma mater, cleaned up our area, and made our way to the cars.
In less than a week, the Irish were going back to State for the first time in a decade.
The NCAA Championships Descend on Eugene, Oregon
The University of Oregon’s Hayward Field will host the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from June 9-12. That means that for the third year in a row a major track & field championship meet will take place in the city known as “Track Town USA”; that city would be Eugene, Oregon. The previous meets were the 2008 USA Olympic Trials and the 2009 USA Championships. There will be plenty of exciting competition at this year’s NCAA Championship meet – there always is.
At the 2009 NCAA Championships, before the final event – the men’s 4X400 meter relay – no less than four schools had a chance to be crowned team champion depending on the outcome of the 4X4. One scenario had four teams tying for first place with forty-six points. Heading into the 4X4 this was the situation:
- Oregon, 46 points – no 4X4 team
- Florida, 41 points
- Texas A&M, 40 points
- Florida State, 36 points
Florida State dominated the race, running sub-3:00 claiming ten points to tie with Oregon at 46 points. Florida battled hard and ended up in fourth place for five points so they, too, ended the day with 46 points. Texas A&M was in second place on the final exchange and they needed to stay in second for eight points and a national championship at 48 points. If Baylor were to catch them on the final lap and knock Texas A&M down to third place, Texas A&M would only get six points and they would be the fourth team tied with 46 points. This was some of the highest drama imaginable for an NCAA Championship meet. What a happened? Watch the video and remember to stay focused on whether Texas A&M gets second place (thus winning the championship outright) or third place (creating a four-way tie for the title).
Included in this year’s drama will be the host school, the Oregon Ducks, contending for both the men’s and women’s team championship. Track & Field News’ pre-meet predictions have the Oregon women in a near dead heat with Texas A&M. On the men’s side, Florida and Texas A&M are predicted to battle for the title with Oregon holding down third place. But there is a reason they actually have the meet and don’t crown the champion based on seed times. You can be sure that Oregon’s coach Vin Lananna will pull out all the stops to try to win a championships or two on their home track. The home crowd at Hayward Field has been known to cheer on local athletes to incredible performances (Remember the 2008 USA Olympic Trials Men’s 800 race?).
In truth, the NCAA Championships began the weekend of May 27-29 at the regional qualifying meets. For the first time, and somewhat controversially, qualification for the NCAA Championship meet began with qualifying rounds at two regional meets (the western regional meet in Austin, TX and the eastern regional meet in Greensboro, NC). The top forty-eight athletes in each event and the top twenty-four relay teams in each region qualified for regionals. The top twelve athletes and relay teams in each event at the regional meet then qualified to what’s called the NCAA Championships. The only exceptions made to this protocol of qualifying from regionals to the championship meet are for the heptathlon and decathlon. The top twenty-four athletes in each of these events qualify straight to the championship in Eugene.
Since there were preliminary rounds of competition at regionals, and there will be semi-finals and then finals for most events at the championships in Eugene, I consider what started on May 27 and will finish on June 12 to be one big and long NCAA Championship meet. This seventeen day meet began with the qualifying rounds in Austin and Greensboro, took a ten day break, and will end with the semi-finals and finals in Eugene.
Track & field isn’t the only thing happening at the University of Oregon. It’s also graduation time. After Eugene was named the host school for the 2010 NCAA Championships the University of Oregon had an issue to resolve, when would they hold their commencement exercises? Based on the University of Oregon’s traditional calendar commencement should be on Saturday, June 12, the first day following final exams. But Saturday, June 12 will be the last day of the NCAA Championship meet, and there was concern that there would not be enough hotel rooms in Eugene and its vicinity to house both the track & field fans and the graduates’ families. A number of ideas were bantered about, including: holding graduation either two weeks after finals (i.e. June 19) or after dead week but before finals (June 5). Both ideas had major drawbacks. With the first, students would have to wait around for a week after finals for graduation. With the second, could there be a graduation before final exams? Isn’t it mandatory for a student to pass those exams before they can achieve the necessary credits to graduate? The decision was finally made to hold the University of Oregon’s class of 2010 graduation ceremony on Monday, June 14. Throughout the debate there was criticism from those who felt that the university placed athletics ahead of academics. In fairness to the current Oregon administration, it was a previous regime that agreed to host the NCAA Championships.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one final news item connected to the University of Oregon. On Saturday, May 29, 2010, after ninety-six years on this earth, and exactly two weeks before the 2010 NCAA Championships will be decided at Hayward Field, Barbara Bowerman passed away. She was the widow of famed Oregon coach Bill Bowerman (if you haven’t read Kenny Moore’s book, Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, I highly recommend it). This year’s Oregon teams are hoping to repeat a feat that two of Bowerman’s Oregon teams achieved: winning an NCAA Championship at home (1962 and 1984). There have been some touching articles written about this gracious woman. On behalf of all runners, I hope you rest in peace and I thank you, Mrs. Bowerman, for sacrificing your waffle iron for the sake of future runners’ shoes.
FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE:
There are plenty of places on the web to get NCAA Championship meet coverage. CBS will have live television coverage from 10:00 A.M. to noon pacific time on Saturday, June 12 (check your local listings).
– Runnerspace – http://www.runnerspace.com/NCAAOutdoorChampionships
– Letsrun – http://www.letsrun.com/2010/ncaapreviews2010.php
– Track & Field News – http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/
– US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association – http://www.ustfccca.org/division-i
Penn Relays Recap
The 2010 Penn Relay Carnival lived up to the hype. It was a great meet filled with dramatic race finishes and memorable performances. Writers at LetsRun.com and OregonLive.com have already done some nice write-ups on the meet so there’s no point in me re-telling the whole story of the 2010 Penn Relays. I’ll hit on the highlights and then list some links, should you want to read more.
The University of Tennessee Women pulled off the distance relay sweep for the second year in a row. Phoebe Wright ran key legs on all three winning relay teams and now has six Penn Relay championship watches, one for each of the six winning relay teams she has been a part of last year and this year.
The University of Oregon made their presence felt at the meet. The women had three top three finishes (2nd in the DMR, 3rd in the 4X1500 relay, and 3rd in the 4X800 relay). The men won the DMR and 4Xmile relay, and came in 2nd in the 4X800 relay – one of the most talked about races of the meet.
The men’s 4X800 relay was highly anticipated because Oregon was anchored by 2008 Olympian Andrew Wheating and the University of Virginia was anchored by freshman sensation Robby Andrews. Wheating is known for his big kick at the end of races, so it was a bit of a surprise when Andrews beat Wheating at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. The two would have a rematch on the anchor leg of the 4X800 relay; Andrews beat Wheating to give Virginia the win. OregonLive.com has a nice story about the Wheating-Andrews rivalry with links to more stories about it.
Usain Bolt electrified the crowd during the 4X100 relay. You can see in the ESPN television coverage of the race that the public address announcer had to plead with the crowd to be quiet for the start of the race so that they could have a fair start. Cameras were set-up to get a computer time for Bolt’s 100 meter split. It doesn’t really mean anything because he had a running start, but it sure sounds cool and fast to hear that he ran an 8.79 split (much faster than his world record 9.58).
Athletes who either train with Shannon Rowbury or are coached by Shannon’s coach, John Cook, were in action in the USA vs. the World relays. Alysia Johnson anchored the USA Blue team to 2nd place in the sprint medley relay. Jacob Hernandez ran an 800 leg on the USA Blue DMR team. David Torrance (1600 meter split: 4:00.46) and Leo Manzano (1600 split: 4:00.03) were part of a blanket finish that had three teams finish within 0.07 seconds of each other (1st Kenya-9:24.97, 2nd USA Blue (Torrance’s team)-9:25.02, 3rd USA White (Manzano’s team)-9:25.04). Speaking of Shannon, she is scheduled to race the 5,000 meters at the Payton Jordan Invitational on Saturday, May 1 at Stanford.
The excitement of the Penn Relays was on display in the high school boys 4X400 relay championship. I won’t give away the end, but some things to look for as you watch the video of the race:
– Note how the runner in the green and yellow uniform (Vere Tech from Clarendon, Jamaica) on the second leg “cuts out” to lane five.
– The team in the yellow and red uniform (Wolmer’s Boys from Kingston, Jamaica) had quite a day. Three of the four boys who ran in the 4X400 championship also ran on the 4X100 relay team that set a new Penn Relays record of 39.78 earlier in the day.
– Notice how the crowd goes crazy when Cheltenham from Pennsylvania goes by the Jamaicans to take a short lived lead. What a thrill for that team!
– Three teams finish within 0.38 seconds. Two of the teams are from Jamaica and the third one is Junipero Serra from Gardena, CA. Several California high school teams were in the finals, showing once again that California has some of the fastest runners in the world.
My final note about Penn Relays is something that makes me very proud. An athlete I coached at Sacred Heart Cathedral, who eleven months ago was winning her league championship in the 300 hurdles, got to run in the 4X200 and 4X400 relays for Ithaca College. Tammia Hubbard worked very hard to develop from a somewhat awkward freshman into a JV champion, and then into a varsity champion. Now she is a college athlete who ran at the Penn Relays in her freshman year. You can read more about Tammia in an Examiner article from March 2009.
LetsRun.com Friday Recap (Tennessee women win the 4X1500 relay. Oregon men win the DMR.): http://www.letsrun.com/2010/pennday20423.php
LetsRun.com Saturday Recap (Tennessee women win the 4X800 relay to sweep the distance relay for the second year in a row. Oregon wins the 4Xmile, but Robby Andrews leads Virginia over Oregon in the 4X800 to prevent an Oregon distance relay sweep. USA vs the World coverage.): http://www.letsrun.com/2010/pennrelays0424.php
Flotrack Coverage (videos of virtually every race): http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/236836-2010-penn-relays
Complete Results (with embedded videos from the Penn Relays website): http://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/schedule.aspx
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