April 22, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - A strong relay contingent and a stellar jumps crew for the Texas A&M track and field team will be in the hunt for Championship of America titles during the 115th running of the Penn Relay Carnival this weekend at Franklin Field.
Action for the Aggies will start at noon on Thursday and continues through Saturday evening. Live streaming of the event is available through the Penn Relays website (www.thepennrelays.com) at the live events link. ESPN2 will also air live coverage of the meet from 3 to 5 p.m. (CST) on Saturday.
Web coverage will begin at 4:15 p.m. (CST) on Thursday, April 23, and continue through Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25. Each of the races will be available for archived viewing as well.
Texas A&M will enter the meet with collegiate leading times in the women's 4 x 100 (42.91) and 4 x 200 (1:32.31) relays along with the men's second fastest collegiate marks in the 4 x 100 (38.85) and 4 x 200 (1:22.06) relays. Both 4 x 400 units have times, 3:06.16 and 3:34.48, that rank among the top five this season.
Updated national rankings for this week have the Aggie women remaining in the No. 1 position while the A&M men are still No. 2.
Competing on Thursday will be Aggie women's 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays in prelim races. Ashika Charan, the 2007 Penn Relays winner, and Joe Sauvageau will compete in the 5,000 meters that evening.
Friday's action includes the women's triple jump and men's long jump along with heats of the 4 x 100 (men), 4 x 200 (men & women) and 4 x 400 (men). Finals will be contested in the women's 4 x 100 and men's sprint medley relay.
Entered in the women's triple jump for A&M are Ashika Charan, Yasmine Regis, Angela Thomas. Aggies in the long jump are Keenan Hall and Tyron Stewart.
Also running on Friday in individual events will be Elizabeth Adeoti (w100), Dominique Stafford (m100), De'Lon Isom (110H), Gabby Mayo (100H) and Vashti Thomas (100H).
Last season the A&M women experienced a couple of historic moments in the famed Franklin Field venue. The Aggies won its first-ever women's Penn Relays title in the 4 x 200 relay (1:31.21) and recorded the third fastest time ever at meet during the prelims, when the squad set a school record of 1:30.96.
It was also the first relay victory for the A&M women at the Penn Relays since 1997 when the Aggies won the shuttle hurdle relay. Running on the 2008 Championship of America team were Khrystal Carter, Allison George, Simone Facey and Porscha Lucas.
The title defense in the 800-meter relay will include the return of Carter, George and Lucas. Between the prelim and final others who may run on the relay are Jessica Beard, Duncan and Mayo. Texas A&M has already successfully defended its 4 x 200 title at the Texas Relays earlier this month.
In addition to the 4 x 200 victory, the Aggie women also were runner-up in the 4 x 100 and shuttle hurdle relays during the 2008 Penn Relay Carnival. They head into this year's meet as the collegiate leaders in the sprint relay with a 42.91 clocking from the Texas Relays. Texas A&M will not contest the hurdle relay this weekend.
A then school record of 42.69 at last year's Penn Relays was second only to the 42.59 produced by LSU in the 4 x 100 relay as both schools bettered the previous meet record of 42.73 set in 2003. A&M later matched the collegiate leading 42.59 in defeating LSU at the NCAA Championships to defend the Aggies' 2007 national crown.
As runner-up to LSU in the shuttle hurdle relay the A&M crew established an American Record of 52.96 seconds with the foursome of Mayo, Whitney Holmes, Lindsey Adams and Jennifer Williams.
The Aggie men were runner-up to Florida State at the 2009 Texas Relays in the 4 x 100 when both schools posted the fastest pair of times this season. A&M won the Texas Relays 4 x 200 title, running the same order from the sprint relay - Chris Dykes and Justin Oliver.
Recently, Texas A&M swept LSU in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 at the Alumni Gold meet his past weekend in Baton Rouge.
Oliver moved the Aggies from third to first on the anchor leg of the 1,600-meter relay, splitting a 45.6, as A&M edged the Tigers by 0.008 of a second (3:06.152 to 3:06.160). In the sprint relay Oliver anchored the Aggies to a 39.06 clocking as he withstood the charge of LSU's Trindon Holliday, who made the Tigers a very close runner-up in 39.07.