110th Penn Relays off without hitch

Striding down the runway with a javelin perched on his shoulder and a stiffening wind making its presence felt, senior Brian Chaput knew the expectations placed upon him.

As the defending Penn Relays champion, he was the reason why a considerable crowd gathered on what is usually a practice field in the shadow of the train tracks through University City, clapping rhythmically every time his turn to throw came around. Chaput delivered.

With all four of his throws traveling more than 70 meters, the East Haven, Conn., native won the javelin throw for the second consecutive year last Saturday, and gave Penn its second championship of America in 2004.

"It's definitely an honor to come back and win the Penn Relays again," he said. "It was a great feel today."

In the first round, where the 13 competitors each had three attempts, Chaput's first throw traveled 76.74 meters, which converts to 251 feet, 9 inches. He committed a foul on his second attempt, and threw to 72.11 meters, or 236-7 on his third attempt.

The final round saw Chaput throw for 74.86 meters, or 245-7, followed by a 73.41-meter (240-10) throw on the second attempt and a foul in his final time up.

Chaput's strength and coolness early in the final round were in contrast with some of the other contestants. Three straight competitors committed fouls on their first attempts of the final round by crossing the white boundary line at the end of the runway, despite contorting themselves in many different ways to try to avoid doing so.

Many of the competitors also struggled to break the 70-meter mark. Only the University of Tennessee's Leigh Smith and the University of Connecticut's Paul Pisano threw that far in the final round, with Smith reaching 74.64 meters (244-10) and Pisano 71.91 meters (235-11).

"Some of the guys didn't perform quite to where they should be," Chaput said. "In a meet like this, there's a lot of excitement, there's a lot of pressure."

But he generally praised the other competitors, saying, "There's a lot of good competitors in that competition."

Chaput also praised the large number of fans who watched him. The bleachers facing the javelin landing area were full, and more fans lined the perimeter tape along the runway.

"It's great to have all the support," he said. "Just to look out there, everybody was cheering, everybody came out today. It was exciting, you can't ask for more than that."

And while Chaput, who himself got caught up in the fans' cheers, admitted that he "got a little too excited today," he added that "other than that it's great to be able to go out there in front of all those people and just have fun with it."

Elsewhere at the Relays

Meanwhile, back at Franklin Field, a crowd of 49,441 was making itself well known to Philadelphia native Jon Drummond, Marion Jones and the other famous participants in the "USA Versus the World" competition. And although the Jamaican fans in attendance once again outshouted their American counterparts, the "home team" steamrolled all comers.

Drummond's USA Red team beat Jamaica by six meters in the 4x100m relay with a time of 38.42 seconds, and Jones -- who drew the loudest cheers of the day despite being reportedly linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative drug scandal by Saturday's edition of The New York Times -- anchored the USA Red team to victory in the 4x100m and 4x200m races.

The United States would almost surely have taken first and second place in the men's 4x100m had USA Blue anchor Justin Gatlin, who in years past ran at the Penn Relays with the University of Tennessee, not dropped the baton handoff from Sean Crawford.

In the 4x400m, the U.S. women took all three top places, prompting a chant of "One-Two-Three!" from the fans at the finish line. Tyree Washington anchored the USA Red team to victory in the men's 4x400m race.

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