PHILADELPHIA – Stanford returns to the Penn Relays and expects to battle for victories in a number of events in the 121st renewal of the country’s most popular meet.
A year ago, Stanford participated in the Penn Relays for the first time since 2008. Cardinal teams were second in three events and third in another. This week, Stanford hopes to earn its first victory at the meet since 2006 and first men’s relay victory since 2001.
If Stanford can pull off a women’s distance relay triple (distance medley, 4x800, 4x1500), it would become the third to pull it off, following Villanova (five times) and Shalane Flanagan’s North Carolina in 2003.
Here is a closer look at the meet:
What: Penn Relays
When: Thursday-Saturday
Where: Philadelphia, Pa.
Site: Franklin Field
Established: 1895
Events begin (PDT):
Thursday: Field, 6 a.m.; Running, 7 a.m.
Friday: Field, 6 a.m.; Running, 6 a.m.
Saturday: Field, 6 a.m.; Running/Walking, 4 a.m.
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Follow the action:
Live results and Event Schedule: Click here
Flotrack premium webcast: Click here
TV: Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-noon, NBC Sports Network
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Stanford’s Schedule (with lineups in alphabetical order; all times Pacific):
Thursday
2:30 p.m.: Women’s distance medley relay (Elise Cranny, Claudia Saunders, Jessica Tonn, Kristyn Williams).
Friday
10:20 a.m.: Women’s 4x1500 (Elise Cranny, Molly McNamara, Rebecca Mehra, Claudia Saunders, Jessica Tonn).
11:30 a.m.: Men’s distance medley relay (Justin Brinkley, Luke Lefebure, Sean McGorty, Jackson Shumway).
3:20 p.m.: Women’s sprint medley relay (Olivia Baker, Gaby Gayles, Kristyn Williams, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson).
Saturday
10:15 a.m.: Men’s 4xMile relay (Tom Coyle, Jack Keelan, Sean McGorty, Erik Olson).
Noon: Women's Olympic Development Mile (Molly McNamara).
1:10 p.m.: Women’s 4x800 relay (Olivia Baker, Maddy Berkson, Anna Laman, Rebecca Mehra, Claudia Saunders, Malika Waschmann).
1:40 p.m.: Men’s 4x800 relay (Justin Brinkley, Scott Buttinger, Tom Coyle, Luke Lefebure).
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Stanford Winners Since 2000:
2006: Women’s 4x1500 (Amanda Trotter, Lauren Centrowitz, Katy Trotter, Arianna Lambie), 17:18.63.
2005: Women’s 4x800 (Laura Mottaz, Arianna Lambie, Chinny Offor, Ashley Freeman), 8:32.02.
2005: Women’s 4x1500 (Katy Trotter, Amanda Trotter, Sara Bei, Arianna Lambie), 17:38.16.
2005: Women’s triple jump (Erica McLain), 43-9 ¼.
2004: Men’s 5,000 (Grant Robison), 14:06.63.
2004: Women’s 4x100 (Janice Davis, Nashonme Johnson, Christine Moschella, Ashley Purnell), 45.33.
2004: Women’s 4x1500 (Katy Trotter, Katie Hotchkiss, Sara Bei, Arianna Lambie), 17:26.88.
2001: Men’s 5,000 (Grant Robison), 13:57.01.
2001: Men’s 4x800 (Ryan Carroll, Seth Hejny, Mark Hassell, Michael Stember), 7:19.39.
2001: Men’s 4xMile (Seth Hejny, Donald Sage, Jonathan Riley, Michael Stember), 16:15.70.
2001: Men’s discus (Omer Inan), 184-10.
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Women’s DMR: The Cardinal was second last year, in the first of two relays (the 4x1500 being the other) in which the Cardinal was overtaken by Villanova down the home stretch. Stanford, also a two-time NCAA indoor runner-up, has one member, Claudia Saunders, who has been part of each of those teams. Saunders, the 2014 NCAA outdoor 800 runner-up, gave Stanford the lead in both indoor championship races going into the final leg. If the Cardinal follows the pattern of its indoor team, Jessica Tonn (Big Meet record 4:18.28 1,500 on April 11) will lead off in the 1,200 and freshman Elise Cranny (4:10.95 1,500 PR) will run the anchor 1,600, sandwiching Kristyn Williams, Stanford’s indoor 400 record holder, and Saunders. This year’s indoor foursome of Tonn, Olivia Baker, Saunders, and Cranny set the school DMR record of 10:53.66. Three-time defending DMR champion Villanova graduated Emily Lipari, who tortured Stanford by kicking past Aisling Cuffe to win the DMR and 4x1500 last year, but returns three others and will have the home crowd on its side. Of the 12 NCAA indoor DMR finalists, only Stanford, Villanova, which was disqualified, and seventh-place Georgetown are in the field.
Women’s 4x1500: This event plays directly into the strength of Stanford’s team, which is deep with outstanding middle distance runners. All five members of the relay pool have run 4:21 or faster this season, with Jessica Tonn, Elise Cranny and Rebecca Mehra all were under 4:18.50 during a 1-2-3 Stanford finish at the Big Meet on April 11. All three, plus Claudia Saunders, are multi All-Americans. In the Penn Relays, this is Stanford’s marquee event, winning three consecutive years, from 2004-06, and breaking the American record (17:18.63) in 2006.
Women’s 4x800: Stanford’s lineup in this event may hinge on how Claudia Saunders, Rebecca Mehra and Olivia Baker are feeling from previous events. Saunders (2:02.38), Baker (2:06.01), Anna Laman (2:05.27), and Maddy Berkson (2:06.67) all have personal records under 2:07, and Malika Waschmann, in her first season concentrating on the 800 ran 2:07.58 during the indoor season. Baker is practically a Penn Relays legend after her High School Athlete of the Meet performances the past two years, with brilliant anchor legs in the 4x800 while at Columbia High in New Jersey.
Women’s sprint medley relay: At the Penn Relays, you can never count out a team that concludes with Olivia Baker on an 800 anchor. The freshman will do the same in her first collegiate Penn Relays event. Last year, she ran a spectacular 4x800 anchor split of 2:02.55, chasing down three runners and making up 50 meters to catch the leader on the final lap as the crowd rose in disbelief. She is part of a strong foursome that includes three freshmen (Baker, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson, and Gaby Gayles) plus junior Kristyn Williams.
Men’s DMR: Stanford is looking for redemption in this race. The Cardinal never showed what it could do at the NCAA indoors when its leadoff leg tripped in a physical race and Stanford had to play catchup, finishing 10th. Luke Lefebure, a 2014 NCAA outdoor 800 finalist in 2014, is the lone returnee from Stanford’s NCAA indoor championship DMR team. He also is a fixture in this year’s DMR lineup, along with quartermiler Jackson Shumway and anchor Sean McGorty (3:59.34 mile PR). Justin Brinkley has the hot hand – setting personal bests in the 1,500 the past two meets (3:43.65 at the Big Meet) – and should get the 1,200 leg.
Men’s 4xMile: Stanford sends two sub-4 milers (Tom Coyle and Sean McGorty) into the fray, and will field a squad of four, including Jack Keelan and Erik Olson, who have hit 3:45 or faster in the 1,500. McGorty and Olson set personal bests on April 11 at the Big Meet, with 1,500 times of 3:40.62 and 3:42.31, respectively. In both this race and the DMR, Stanford will contend with Oregon, the defending champion in both events and multiple NCAA champ Edward Cheserek.
Men's 4x800: Luke Lefebure, a 2014 first-team outdoor All-America with PR of 1:47.64, heads a group that features three teammates -- junior Justin Brinkley, sophomore Scott Buttinger, and sophomore Tom Coyle -- on the verge of breakout seasons. Coyle ran his first sub-4 mile during the indoor season, and Brinkley and Buttinger are rising stars in the middle-distance world.
Penn Relays Overview: The Penn Relays is annually the best attended track and field meet in the U.S. and among the most highly-attended meet in the world. The three-day meet is expected once again to top 110,000 in total attendance and the Saturday competition regularly attracts 48,000 spectators to Franklin Field on the University of Pennsylvania campus. The meet, which began in 1895, is in its 121st year and will have 22,000 entries, from youth to masters.
Historic Franklin Field: The Penn Relays are held between the venerable brick walls of Franklin Field, the 52,593-seat stadium built in 1895. Besides track and field, the stadium also is notable for other reasons. It was the home of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1958-1970, the site of the 1960 NFL Championship game (a 17-13 Eagles victory over Green Bay and Vince Lombardi) and the place where Philadelphia fans cemented their merciless reputation by infamously booing and throwing snowballs at Santa Claus, at an Eagles game in 1968.