May 1, 2011
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Penn Relays Saturday Results
The Nittany Lion men's 4x800-meter relay placed second in the Championship of America section, while the women's squad posted a school record in the event, Saturday at the final day of the 117th running of the Penn Relays at Franklin Field. Junior Hanif Johnson (Harrisburg, Pa.) paced the Penn State efforts in the field events, recording an individual victory in the "Eastern" section of the triple jump.
Coming within a second of a win, the quartet of senior Lionel Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.), senior Samuel Borchers (Yellow Springs, Ohio), senior Ryan Foster (Tasmania, Australia), and sophomore Casimir Loxsom (New Haven, Conn.) combined to run a blistering 7:12.90 over 3200-meters, finishing second-to-only Virginia, which crossed in 7:12.15 for its second-straight Penn Relays victory in the event. Williams opened things up with a 1:50.69 lead-off leg, handing off to Borchers, who split 1:47.56 to bring the Lions to the front of the pack with an outstanding finishing kick. Foster covered the third leg for the Lions, covering his half mile in 1:47.95. Loxsom turned in an impressive 1:46.70 on the anchor - the second-fastest split of the afternoon.
In one of the fastest finishes in event history, Virginia now ranks second in the Penn Relays record books, while the Nittany Lions stand sixth all time. The Nittany Lion foursome also ranks second in school history, finishing just shy of the Penn State and Penn Relays record 7:11.17, run by Vance Watson, Steve Shisler, Chris Mills, and Randy Moore in 1985.
On the women's side, the squad of Caitlin Lane (Greenwich, N.Y.), Bekka Simko (Mentor, Ohio), Kalyn Fisher (Lewisburg, Pa.) and Maura Ryan (Doylestown, Pa.) found a spot in the Penn State record books, running a school-record 8:39.44 to place seventh in the Championship of America, and knock off the long standing Nittany Lion best of 8:41.09, set in 1978. The official readouts for the race included sub-2:09 efforts from both Lane (2:08.52) and Simko (2:08.36) on the opening two legs.
The Nittany Lions would also turn in a pair of solid finishes in the women's sprint relays, with the 4x400-meter relay finishing fifth in the Championship of America, and the 4x200-meter relay earning runner-up status in the ECAC final. Finishing as the top East Coast squad in the 4x400, Doris Anyanwu (Beltsville, Md.), Shavon Greaves (Lakewood, N.J.), Ije Iheoma (Holland, Pa.), and Megan Duncan (North Huntingdon, Pa.) posted a season-best effort of 3:36.56 in the 4x400, highlighted by a 53.15 split by Iheoma on the third leg. Duncan, Iheoma, Anyanwu, and Caitlin Defusco (Schwenksville, Pa.) took second in the 4x200, crossing in 1:36.56 - just .03 seconds off section winner Morgan State.
Following up on teammate Doug Moppert's (Malvern, Pa.) victory in the eastern long jump on Friday night, Johnson made it a Penn State sweep in the eastern horizontal events, thanks to a wind-aided leap of 50-10.25 (15.50).
Also faring well in the field was redshirt-sophomore Logan Caldwell (Ebensburg, Pa.), who threw a personal-best 180-8 (55.07) to place eighth in the college hammer. Teammates Will Barr (Urbana, Ohio) and Nabil Mubarak (Loganville, Ga.) followed in ninth and 10th, respectively.
The Nittany Lions will have one last tune up prior to the Big Ten Championships, hosting the Jim Thorpe Invitational on Saturday, May 7, at Nittany Lion Track.