The Penn Relays Carnival is one of the biggest track events in the world. However, unlike the Olympics, only high schoolers and college kids can compete. The Rams have attended multiple times, and this year went for the 4×1 and 4×4. Teams also travel all the way from Jamaica to compete. With huge heats, there are many dropped batons, chaos, and celebrations. I will walk you through it all.
4×100 meter dash
This race is fast and quick. Handoffs are everything. The exchange zone is roughly 30m long, which goes by super quickly. The handoffs are blind for time purposes, so if the baton is missed, something always happens. For high school, there are Northeast, National, and International. The Northeast winner was Bergen Catholic, which we competed against at the Non-Public A State Meet. Jamaica won the COA division with a crazy time of 40.03. They were competing against all other Jamaican schools. For college men, nine teams were in the finals. However, Norfolk State got DQ’d, Clemson and South Florida both missed the second hand off. This allowed Ohio State to win in a time of 39.65
4×200-meter dash
There is only one college for this event. Clemson barely won in a time of 1:21.52, with two other teams finishing sub 1:22.
4×400 meter dash
This is the biggest event of the meet. It is because all athletes run this event. Sprinters in the 100m dash and distance runners are in this race. It is the most popular event in track. For championship meets, which are all individual, the only relay run at the end of the meet is the 4×4. This means that Penn had like a thousand heats. Oratory Prep ran at this event in a time of 3:40. The Bullis School is a high school team that is taking over the sprinting world of track. Quincy Wilson is the anchor who ran for the Olympic 4×4 team. In the prelims, he split a 44.93 to have a huge comeback win. Then in the finals, he got the baton in the lead. He split a 45.5 to win by almost three seconds. Ohio State once again won, winning the college 4×4 in a time of 3:05.
4×800 meter relay
In this relay, the indoor record holder is Union Catholic, set at New Balance Nationals. Union Catholic is in our division for track, and has countless All- Americans. They have had multiple battles with IMG Academy from Florida in this event. The Milrose Games and New Balance Nationals Union Catholic barely beat them out. Union Catholic got the baton first and kept it that way. Running 7:41. College was one of the most entertaining races. The college record had been standing for 40 years from Penn State in 1985. However, this year Penn State has been called the 800m University. As the Big Ten had been dominating this meet, they were going to be it. Popular channel All Track Access was videotaping them before the race to see how they prepared. Everyone was expecting them to win. In the Penn Relays, it was said that taking the lead is risky. Penn State got the baton in the lead going onto the last leg. A runner who placed 6th for Japan in the World in this event. Michigan’s Trent McFarland was behind. The last 200m, he got himself, then looked back, started celebrating, and pointed back all before they won the race. I personally find this extremely disrespectful. They then did the dance that a Penn State runner did after a race this winter. I believe that celebrations are okay on or after the line. This was way before, and was disrespectful. Michigan got the win and said, “800m who” instead of “U”.
Distance Medley Relay
The distance medley relay, or the DMR, is unlike a normal relay. All the runners have a different distance. The first leg is the 1200m or three laps around the track. In high school, North Rockland led this leg with an insane time of 3:01. Then, a 400m leg, which is one lap. La Salle had a runner at 47 seconds, and he moved up six runners to first. Then, Christian Brothers Academy, a native New Jersey team that is also in Non Public A. They took the lead on the 800m leg, which is two laps around the track. He ran 1:55. However, Mifflin from PA won the race with a 4:05 last leg. The last leg is a 1600m run or four laps around the track. For college, the DMR has turned some eyes. In recent NCAA Championships, top talent has decided not to run the mile indoors; instead, the DMR. Gary Martin, Simeon Birdbaum, and Marco Langon are all some of, if not the best, distance runners in college currently. The first couple of legs were super fast, with Oregon in the lead after a 400m split of 45 and an 800m split of 1:45. We were on record watch, which was 9:12. Simeon Birdbaum of Oregon was in the lead. Last week, he broke the 1500m record with a 3:31. This is about a 3:46 1600m, so he just had to close in 3:51 or faster. He was capable of running this. However, he walked over to lane two, and it slowed down a lot. Until the last 400m, the race was super slow. Simeon was able to outkick the whole field, specifically Marco Langnon, who is a hothead on social media. The race was chaotic, but fans were mad. We could have had a new record, but it slowed down so much. Simeon ran a 4:10, and he was definitely capable of breaking this record. I can’t critique too much because he did win.
4xMile
There is only this event for college men, but I wanted to talk about it. The Day before Marco Langon was outkicked, and this was his revenge race. The first mile was slow, allowing all the teams to be in the race. The second mile was the same. It wasn’t until the third leg that we saw five contenders. Villanova, Oregon, NAU, Virginia, and Wisconsin were all in the race. Collin Sahlman, the NCAA indoor 800m record holder, had the baton in first. Going into the last 200m, Langon of Nova made his move. Simeon, who was far behind, went with. Birdbaum looked strong and was catching up. Marco had another gear and went crazy. He got his revenge and won. He then ran almost into the stands in celebration.
In recap, Penn Relays was full of drama. The college races were close and brought to an end. A lot of dropped batons, and high school runners all competed on the biggest stage.
