A&M women achieve seventh consecutive Penn Relays 4x100 title
Apr 24, 2015 | Track and Field
PHILADELPHIA – Amid a sun splashed Friday session, although still with very cool temperatures in the high 40s, the Texas A&M women's 4x100 relay rallied for its seventh consecutive victory in the Championship of America final in front of 39,130 fans at the 121st Penn Relay Carnival.
The Aggies extended the longest current winning streak of any women's relay race at the historic meet and matched a couple of the men's winning streaks held by Villanova (1955-61) in the 4x400 and Arkansas (1994-200) in the 4xMile. The longest consecutive winning streak at the Penn Relays is Villanova's run of 16 titles in the men's distance medley relay from 1966 to 1981.
Starting in lane three, the goal for the Aggies was to make up the stagger on the teams through each exchange of the baton. This was particularly noticeable on the second leg carry by Ashton Purvis after a strong start out of the blocks by Jennifer Madu.
“It was a challenge, but we have to deal with those all the time,” said Madu. “I'm just excited we were able to get out here and not let the lane affect us. We executed our race and came out with the win.”
Purvis added: “I think it was an important part for me, especially since we were in lane three instead of a preferred lane. It was important for me to make up some of the stagger. Then Kamaria made her move and Aaliyah brought home the win. When I saw Kamaria hit her gear I knew we were good, nobody is going to catch her. Then there was a clean exchange between Kamaria and Aaliyah to finish it off.”
Running strong through the curve on the third leg Kamaria Brown moved the Aggies into the lead. Then Aaliyah Brown cruised to the finish and announced the A&M victory with a thrust of her index finger into the air. A&M won the final with a time of 43.76 over the 44.36 by runner-up Texas, who ran in lane six as the top seed from the prelims.
“I wanted to win this race since it's my last Penn Relays as a collegian,” stated K. Brown. “After our performance in the prelims and getting lane three for the final it pushed us to do better. We got the win and I'm very happy. I'll never forget this moment.”
A. Brown noted: “I just wanted to make sure that I finished strong for my team, because I know each day at practice we work hard. Not to come second or third, but to win. That's what we came out here to do today and I wanted to make sure I was a part of that victory. It feels great to be part of Texas A&M and to know that we have a trademark here and for us to add another title to the winning streak is a great feeling.”
The rest of the field behind the Aggies and Longhorns included Oklahoma (45.49), G.C. Foster (45.54), South Carolina (45.74), Houston (45.83), Hampton (46.79) and Boston University (46.93). UTech of Jamaica did not start, leaving lane seven open.
“I think that's probably the biggest thing about this win today is running inside the curb here in lane three,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “If you run in lane three and win this one with a 43-plus then that's a great run for this group of ladies. It was a great competition and the ladies were fired up and ready to compete today.”
In the sprint medley relay the Aggies finished fifth in their section with a time of 3:26.46 that placed them 12th overall. Penn State edged out LSU for the victory, 3:21.29 to 3:21.95, as Indiana Tech placed third overall in 3:24.40 after winning the third section. The Aggie foursome included Devin Jenkins, Elijah Morrow, Aikan Graham and Hector Hernandez (1:53.04).
Texas A&M placed 13th in the distance medley relay after placing 10th the past two years. The Aggies were in 10th place through the first three legs of the race as Cameron Villarreal (2:59.06) led off and ran the 1,200m leg. Then Josh Hernandez (48.36) covered the 400m second leg and Gaines Kinsey (1:53.82) ran the 800m third leg. On the anchor leg Isaac Spencer (4:14.22) ran the 1,600m following his victory in the steeplechase on Thursday evening.
Oregon defended its title with a 9:33.86 victory over Villanova (9:34.36), Stanford (9:37.11) and Indiana (9:37.71). A&M finished ahead of Texas, who placed 14th in 10:06.28.
The Aggie men's 4x100 posted the fourth best time in qualifying for the Championship of America final among a field of 78 schools. A&M won its heat in 40.37 over Johnson C. Smith (41.01), Duke (41.63), and Syracuse (42.10).
UTech of Jamaica recorded the fastest time in the prelims with a 39.74 as South Carolina clocked 40.16 while LSU was third best at 40.31. The rest of the field in the final includes Texas (40.74), Clemson (40.76), G.C. Foster (40.87), Johnson C. Smith (41.01) and St. Augustine's (41.06).
Three legs of the winning 4x100 returned for the prelims of the women's 4x200 as A&M won their heat in 1:32.90 to post the second fastest time in qualifying for the final behind a 1:32.38 from UTech.
With a relay order of Purvis, Madu, Shamier Little and K. Brown the Aggies cruised to a comfortable win in the first heat of the 4x200 prelims over Indiana Tech (1:36.73) and Penn State (1:36.83). Also making the final were Duke (1:35.38), LSU (1:36.40), Indiana Tech, Penn State, G.C. Foster (1:36.89), Northern Illinois (1:37.34) and Marshall (1:37.71).
The final qualifying race of the day for A&M came in the men's 4x400. The Aggies won the opening heat in 3:10.52 with the foursome of Gregory Coleman, Shavez Hart, Deon Hickey and Deon Lendore. A&M led through the first two legs and then found themselves in third place behind Western Kentucky and G.C. Foster when Lendore received the baton.
In the process of splitting 45.96 on the anchor leg, Lendore moved the Aggies from third to first by the end of the backstretch. Then he cruised home as A&M won the heat by over a second with Western Kentucky (3:11.90) in second and Foster (3:12.67) third.
Teams advancing to the final from the field of 67, in addition to the top three from the Aggies heat, included LSU (3:08.81), Clemson (3:11.94), South Carolina (3:12.18), St. Augustine's (3:12.65), Texas (3:12.90) and Pittsburgh (3:12.91).
Penn Relay Carnival – Texas A&M Schedule (Central time listed)
Saturday
12:40 p.m. 4x100 relay M FINAL Championship
1:00 p.m. Pole Vault M FINAL Chase Wolfle, Audie Wyatt
1:25 p.m. 4x200 relay W FINAL Championship
3:40 p.m. 4x800 relay M FINAL Championship
4:35 p.m. 4x400 relay W FINAL College
5:00 p.m. 4x400 relay M FINAL Championship
