Some big changes in the schedule for 127th Penn Relays

Longtime fans of the Penn Relays are going to notice big changes to this year's carnival, which begins Thursday morning at Franklin Field and runs through Saturday evening.

The biggest change is the shift in the high school events.

In years past, the girls ran on Thursday with the 4 x 100, 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 Championship of America Races on Friday. The boys competed on Friday with the 4 x 100, 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 Championship of America races on Saturday.

That's been reversed. This year, the boys competition on the track will be Thursday and Friday and the girls will be on Friday and Saturday. In the future, the boys and girls programs will rotate between Thursday/Friday and Friday/Saturday to give each group the opportunity to compete in front of the Saturday crowd, which is traditionally the largest of the competition.

For the second straight year, there will be no USA vs. World competition. But that doesn't mean there won't be big names competing at Franklin Field in the 127th running of the carnival.

Two-time Olympian and Eagles wide receiver Devon Allen is back to defend his title in the men's Olympic Development 110-meter hurdles. Allen set the relays record with a time of 13.11 last year, breaking the mark of 13.29 set by Renaldo Nehemiah in 1979. Olympian Rafael Pereira of Brazil also is entered in the race, which will take place at 2:15 on Saturday.

"Last year was probably one of the most exciting and memorable competitions of my career so I’m hoping to make that happen again," Allen said.

Olympians Ajee Wilson (USA) and Natoya Goule (Jamaica) head a strong field in the women's Olympic Development 600 at 3:46 on Saturday. Wilson grew up in New Jersey but now lives and trains in Philadelphia.

"I’m really excited to be back at Penn Relays," Wilson said. "Every year since high school it's always been one of the highlights of my season."

Four Olympians — Wadeline Jonathas and Taylor Manson (USA), Patience Okon George (Nigeria) and Kyra Constantine (Canada) — are among the athletes entered in the women's Olympic Development 400 (3:21 p.m. Saturday). Strath Haven's Allie Wilson will compete in the women's Olympic Development 800 Friday (6:45 p.m.).

On the collegiate side, the women's DMR features five of the top 10 finishers at the recent NCAA indoor championships, including three of the top five teams in champion Stanford, Notre Dame (third) and Georgetown (fifth).

The men's DMR has four of the top five finishers from the NCAA indoor championships in Oklahoma State (first), Mississippi (second), Wisconsin (third) and Indiana (fifth). Don't count out Villanova, which was 11th at indoor nationals. The quartet of Liam Murphy, Jimmy Milgie, Sean Dolan and Charlie O’Donovan shattered the school indoor and outdoor record at the Alex Wilson invitational in February.

Murphy, Milgie, Dolan and O’Donovan ran 9:20.44 to top the indoor standard (9:27.04) by nearly seven seconds and broke the 35-year-old outdoor mark of 9:21.02 that was set at the 1987 Penn Relays.

Many of the Olympic Development events and several college Championship of America races will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Philadelphia on Saturday from 2-4 p.m.

Two All-Delco athletes are entered in the girls field events. Radnor's Sophia Hill will compete in the pole vault, while Strath Haven's Alexa Brown will take part in the shot put. Episcopal Academy has two athletes entered in individual events, Alphonso Koukou in the boys shot put and Alexandra Gobran in the girls 3,000-meter run.

Episcopal Academy and Haverford are entered in the boys Championship of American distance medley relay. Aidan McHugh, Abaas Hunter, Dakin Ebmyer and Michael Woolery of EA won the DMR at the Nike Indoor Nationals in March. That quartet ran 10:08.93 at nationals and ran 10:59.24 recently at the Coatesville Invitational. Also on the boys side, Penncrest, Strath Haven and Ridley are entered in the 4 x 800.

Haverford will compete in the girls DMR. Camryn McGeehan, Aubrey Leneweaver, Morgan Elliott and Olivia Cieslak won the event at the PTFCA indoor state championships and finished fourth at the New Balance Nationals with a time of 11:53.19. Notre Dame, Strath Haven, Springfield and Penn Wood qualified for the 4 x 800.

Follow Us