Excitement is building.
Across campus and all over the Philadelphia, people are anxiously awaiting the 109th running of the Penn Relays.
"It's really fun, a fun atmosphere," Wharton junior Sundeep Rana said.
Part of that atmosphere is the carnival which takes place on the streets around Franklin Field during the three days of the event.
"It's fun to see all the people running up and down, all the sports teams from the different high schools," said Rana, who lives in Hill College House and whose windows overlook the soon-to-be-busy corner of 33rd and Walnut streets. "You get to interact with them on [Walnut] Street, everything happens there."
"I think it will be pretty exciting," said Engineering freshman David Tomkins, who lives on the first floor of Hill College House on the Walnut Street side, putting him mere feet from the commotion of the Penn Relays carnival.
"I haven't gotten tickets yet, though," he admitted.
Another big part of the weekend's atmosphere is its international flavor, with athletes from all over the world descending on Franklin Field. A particularly large group from the Caribbean is part of this mix, a fact not lost on College freshman Dahlia Roberts, a native of Antigua.
"It's a good opportunity to support them, show them my love," she said of her compatriots. The largest foreign contingent of fans, however, roots for Jamaica.
"They are always the underdogs, coming from a small island, usually thought of as not being as talented as the bigger countries," Roberts added.
This will be the first time College sophomore Angela Desmond actually makes it to the Relays. She described her past experiences on the weekend as "a lot of people walking around looking very excited."
"I've never seen a track meet, and one of my friends is on the track team," she said. "It really depends on how much work I have, but I'd like to go for a little bit."
For others, the weekend will be a continuation of an annual rite. This is the case for Adam Zebrowski, a Philadelphia resident who has been going to the Penn Relays "almost every year since 1970, missing about four years."
"I got hooked by the Jim Ryun, Marty Liquori, Steve Prefontaine-era of track and field," he said. "The Penn Relays provides me a chance to see the new emerging faces" in track.
"Other than in California, track and field has died, and the Penn Relays is one of the few indications track and field is still alive in this country."
Zebrowski is looking forward to seeing what he calls "a generational change" in American track, with such former stars as Michael Johnson now out of the spotlight.
But he still recalled fondly one Penn Relays carnival from years past, "1979 or so," he said, when Renaldo Nehemiah was running the anchor leg of the 4x400m relay for the University of Maryland.
"He ran down a Villanova runner from 30 meters behind to win," Zebrowski said. "Franklin Field shook in the process."
Perhaps more such legends will be created and remember by fans for generations this weekend.
