It is the largest relay meet in the country with over 10,000 athletes competing from the high school and college levels and as unattached or sponsored runners. It is also the oldest, in existence for 103 years. And the Penn Relays, held this weekend in Philadelphia, will be a meet for the men's and women's track teams to show how they can compete with the best in the nation.
"There are races going off all day for three days-it has a carnival atmosphere," assistant men's coach Norm Ogilvie said.
Yet it is also an atmosphere where a dozen Olympic medalists will be competing. The meet is so well-known, CBS will be televising it from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, a day when crowds in excess of 48,000 have been known to come and watch the events taking place.
"The Penn Relays is one of the pinnacles of this sport," assistant women's coach Scott Yakola said. "It is the largest and best relay meet in the country."
One of the highlights of the meet for the Blue Devils will be the 4x800-meter relay. For the first time in two decades, the men have been invited to participate in the Championship of America heat, where only the top twelve teams in the country will compete. Because there is no NCAA championship for relay events such as the distance medley relay or the 4x800, the Penn Relays provides the closest thing by holding the championship heats.
The Blue Devils will lead off the relay with freshman James Vasak, and sophomore Jesse Allen will run the second leg. Junior Mike Park, who is the only member remaining from the school-record holding 4x800 team, will run the third leg, and freshman Brian McCulley, who was fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference meet in the 800, will anchor the team.
The women will also send a group of runners to compete in the 4x800. Last year's relay team ran 8:53 at Penn, but Yakola feels this year's team is even better. The group will consist of juniors Kim Hay, Kim Voyticky and Colette Gurtler and sophomore Stephanie Thomas.
"The competition is great and we want to see how we stack up against other teams," Yakola said. "We want to show that Duke is good; that we work hard and we're talented."
In addition to the 4x800, the men will compete in the distance medley relay, an event in which Duke finished second at the IC4A indoor meet. However, this group will have two different runners at the shorter legs. McCulley will lead off the 1,200-meter leg, while freshman Matt Diglio-who ran a 47.4 anchor leg on the 4x400 at the ACC meet last weekend-will run the 400. Junior Jeremy Walker will race the 800, while Park will anchor with his mile leg.
"I think they can run close to 9:40, which would be a top-five performance," Ogilvie said.
The final relay event for the men will be the sprint medley relay. Allen will lead off with a 200-meter leg and junior Ekan Essien will run the second 200-meter leg. Diglio will again run the 400-meter leg, while senior Danny Schuman will anchor with his 800-meter portion of the relay.
In the only individual event in which the Blue Devils are entered, Allen will compete in the 400-meter hurdles against the top hurdlers in the country. This top group includes Allen-he is currently ranked 10th in the nation after his 51.08 performance at the ACC meet.
"The key to Jesse's race will be his first 150 meters ,because he has the strength to beat everyone to the finish," assistant men's coach Jan Ogilvie said.
The women will send the team of sophomores Tara Cyre (200), Jeanie Minton (200), Kelley Martens (400) and senior Megan James (800) to compete in the sprint medley relay. Minton will also be competing individually in the high jump. In another individual event, junior Erin Fleming will race the 10,000 meters, looking to run under the NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event.
"Coming off of a somewhat disappointing weekend at ACCs, we're looking forward to Penn," senior Kirsten Johnson said. "We generally have done well there in the past and this year, the people we're bringing are even more talented than in years past."
In the last event for the Blue Devils-the 4x400-meter relay-Hay, Voyticky and Thomas will join with Johnson in the hopes of bettering their school record time of 3:52.81, which the foursome set at the Duke Invitational earlier in the season.
"For me, it will be a bittersweet trip-it will be my last collegiate race," Johnson said.
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