Continuing to Unlock Franklin Field’s Magic

Cool, cloudy, and rainy conditions continued in Philadelphia, but they did not hamper HepsNation performances too much at Franklin Field.  Three of yesterday’s performances were good enough to break into the conference top-10 all-time lists.

In the College Women 4×100 Championship of America final, Cornell proved to be the fastest Ivy team.  The Big Red women finished seventh with a time of 46.13, steps ahead of the Penn Quakers (8th – 46.39).  The Cornell lineup was Adrian Jones, Udeme Akpaete, Taysia Radoslav, and Ellen Shepard, while the Penn lineup was Barbara Biney, Taylor McCorkle, Allysha Davis, and Imani Solan.  Oregon won the wheel with a time of 43.44, where Harvard alumna Danielle Barbian was the lead-off leg.  Baribian later qualified for the College Women 100m final, where she ran 11.77 – the sixth fastest time in the field.  Minutes later, Columbia competed in the College Women 4×100 College final.  Iris Chijioke, Jaycee Parker, Akua Obeng-Akrofi, and Ashley Cunningham finished ninth in the race with a time of 47.21.

In the next Championship of America final for the Ivy Leaguers, Yale broke into the conference all-time top 10 in the 4x1500m relay.  The Bulldog quartet of Shannon McDonnell (4:32.3), Frances Schmiede (4:25.6), Meredith Rizzo (4:29.1), and Emily Waligurski (4:28.6) ran 17:55.55 – the 5th fastest time in conference history and a new school record  – to finish 5th overall in the race.  Princeton also finished in the top 8 of the event with a time of 18:16.71.  Their team comprised of Kaitlin Hanss, Emily de La Bruyere, Alexandra Markovich, and Kathryn Fluehr.

The Penn men broke a 44 year old school record during the College Men Distance Medley Relay Championship of America race.  Chris Hatler (2:57.81), Jeff Wiseman (46.82), Elias Graca (1:51.20), and Thomas Awad (4:01.42) ran a time of 9:37.25 to finish third in the field, breaking the previous school record by 2 seconds and running the seventh fastest time in Ivy League history.  What was better was that the members of the previous school record team were in attendance to watch the record be broken (shown in the photo above).  Princeton’s team with Luke Brahm (3:00.60), Ray Mennin (47.36), Noah Kauppila (1:49.45), and Garrett O’Toole (4:01.86) finished sixth in the race with a time of 9:39.25.

Cornell ran the second fastest shuttle hurdle relay time in conference history, as Max Hairston, Wynndham Curtis, Austin Jamerson, and Austin Lyons ran 57.65 to finish second overall in the College Men Shuttle Hurdle Relay Championship of America.  In the women’s equivalent, Princeton had the top hurdling quartet as Ellie Randolph, Kerry Krause, Taylor Morgan, and Maia Craver finished fourth overall in 58.80.  Cornell also fielded a team – Jasmine Robinson, Kayla Wong, Cassidy Jenkins, Kat Quigley – who finished 7th in 59.53.

Columbia also had some of their athletes doubling back from the 4×100 final to run a second relay event yesterday – the Lady Lions quartet of Ashley Cunningham, Akua Obeng-Akrofi, Jaycee Parker, and Devon Towell (2:15.50) ran the College Women Sprint Medley Relay Championship of America, finishing eighth overall in 3:59.73.

Three Ivy teams and one individual qualified for their respective finals that will be held on Saturday:

• First up, Cornell’s 4×100 team of Ryan Hynes, Brailin Paulino, Alex Beck, and Zach Menchaca finished with the 17th fastest time in the preliminary round – 41.20.  Their placement was good enough for placement within the College Men 4×100 College final that will be held today at 1:37pm.
• Later in the afternoon, Princeton qualified their men’s 4×400 team to the College Men 4×400 College final (Saturday 5:40pm).  The quartet of Daniel McCord, Jabari Johnson, Josh Freeman, and Ray Mennin ran 3:14.17 to finish 16th in the preliminary round.
• Taylor McCorkle and Imani Sloan doubled back from running the 4×100 in running the 4×200 heats later in the afternoon.  With Rachel Hlatky and Taylor Hennig, the Penn Quakers qualified for the College Women 4×200 ECAC final on Saturday at 2:20pm with the 13th fastest time in the qualifying field (1:38.89).  Their time is the 10th fastest in conference history.
• Max Hairston was also entered in the open 110m hurdle event – a mere minutes after the Shuttle Hurdle Relay final – and ran fast enough to qualify for the 110m hurdle finals.  Hairston was second in his heat with a time of 14.02, the fourth fastest time in the preliminary round.

Other Relays results:

• Columbia’s Anna Williams finished seventh in the College Women Triple Jump Championships with a best distance of 40-04.
• Princeton’s Chris Cook threw a new seasonal best in the College Men Shot Put Championship, finishing third with a 58-11 1/4 mark.
• Dartmouth alumna Zawadi Rowe was the team organizer for the Executive Office of the President (aka the White House) in the Corporate Distance Medley Relay, where she ran the 400m leg.  Her team finished 20th overall in 13:20.52.
• Two Penn Track Alumni 4×100 teams were entered in the Masters Men 4×100 40+ event.  The team with Beau Ances, HepsNation contributor Kelsey Armstrong, James Primerano, and Mark Mendelszoon finished eighth in 50.36, while the second team with David Allison, Gabby Yearwood, Greg Manabat, and Joe Devine finished in ninth with 54.68.

The Penn Relays concludes today.  You can watch the meet from 12:30 to 3pm ET on NBC Sports Network or their online stream (check your cable provider if you have channel access).

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 30th, 2016 at 10:55 am. It is filed under Penn Relays, Spotlight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.