Relays showcase nation's finest

Living up to its name, relays will be the Relays' main attraction. A track that has seen the likes of Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson. A field that has hosted greats such as Mike Conley and Dan O'Brien. This weekend, the glamour comes back to Franklin Field as it has every year for more than a century. Today and tomorrow, the 103rd annual Penn Relay Carnival comes into its home stretch, bringing with it a rich history and tradition along with two full days of top-notch competition. The Penn Relay Carnival is a five-day event which features competition on all different skill levels. The competitors range from -- time for a deep breath -- junior high school kids to budding high school superstars to established collegiate athletes to hard-core Olympic hopefuls all the way to Masters, who are older athletes trying to recapture their competitive drive. In total, 814 high schools, 271 colleges and over 50 professional clubs such as the Santa Monica Track Club and Nike International will be represented in the Relays. The last two days of Relays have traditionally been the most exciting portion. These two days will play host to all of the major event finals and will see an incredible competitive spirit. Among the events on the agenda for these two days are all of the relay heats and finals, the sprint heats and finals, the jump finals and the pole vault finals. Adding to the air of excitement is live TV coverage on Saturday by CBS starting at 2 p.m. Of the events on tab for this weekend, the one to keep a close eye on is the collegiate 4x400 meter relay. The juggernauts of Oklahoma, who are here for their first time because the athletes lobbied coach J.D. Martin to come, have made it quite clear that they have come to make history. They claim they will run the 4x400 in less than three minutes. Not only would that shatter the Relays record of 3:01.13, but it would be an American record as well. The Sooners will not go unchallenged, however. Defending champion Texas A & M, and past champions George Mason and Georgia Tech, will also stake their claim for the title of Relays champion tomorrow evening. The track should provide even more excitement in the distance events as the Pennsylvania Sportswriters Association Outstanding Male College Athlete, Julius Achon of George Mason, returns to the Relays. A member of both the 4x800 meter relay and distance medley championship teams, Achon returns this year to help his team defend their title in the distance medley and to anchor the sprint medley. Despite its name, Penn Relays also features an impressive array of competitors in the field events. The collegiate high jump tomorrow afternoon, for example, will see last year's winner, Tim James of Miami (Fla.), trying for another title. The collegiate long jump, to be contested this morning, will also be an interesting contest. Last year's winner, Robert Howard from Arkansas, returns against a strong field to attempt to win back-to-back titles. You might ask, where do the host Quakers fit into this elaborate puzzle? That is exactly what will be seen this upcoming weekend. With all of the major events yet to be contested, Penn has a chance to establish themselves as a national power. With their indoor Heptagonal Championship and a decisive win against Princeton under their belts, the Quakers are by far the class of the Ivy League. They will now have to use this confidence and the talent they have to put themselves on the national map. Penn athletes, like sprinter Robin Martin, hurdler/jumper Dan Nord and thrower Lucas Deines, have to have a productive Relays in order to show the strength of the Penn program. The Penn Relays will come and go, as they do every year. What makes them a lasting tradition are the memories that they leave behind. Long after the crowds of up to 90,000 are gone and the athletes return to their homes, there are stories that never go. These Relays will be no different from the one's in years past. They will be chock full of heartbreaks, surprises, underdogs, favorites, winners and losers. But most of all, they will be full of the one thing that lasts -- memories.