At this time last year, Bev Kearney, coach of the women's track and field team at Texas, was in the midst of a tough decision.
The Big 12 Outdoor Championships had been moved by a vote of coaches to the week after the Penn Relays. And Kearney had to decide whether to send her team more than 1,500 miles to compete in Philadelphia before going through the grueling three-day conference meet.
"Most of us protested because we felt it would impact the most important meets in the nation for track and field, which were the Penn Relays and the Drake Relays," Kearney said. "But they voted that way anyways."
Kearney and her team were forced to forgo an opportunity to compete at the Penn Relays in 2004. This year, though, they are back, and ready to show their strength. At the Texas Relays, the Longhorns picked up championship titles in the 4x100-meter relay as well as the 4x200m and the 4x400m. They hope to find similar success at Penn this weekend.
The Texas women's team joins 240 other colleges scheduled to compete in the Penn Relays this weekend at Franklin Field. Among the list of schools that will fight for titles in both individual and medley events are Miami, Louisiana State, Villanova, Michigan and Tennessee.
However, one major story surrounding collegiate track and field this year is the large number of women who left school early last year to turn professional. Among those casualties was Miami's Lauryn Williams, who won the 100m dash last year at the Relays.
Aside from the mass of early departures come the voids left by graduation, a problem that will plague the LSU women's 4x100m relay team.
The Tigers' relay, which was anchored last year by senior standout Muna Lee, will be left with four freshman for the 2005 Penn Relays. So while no one is really sure what to expect from LSU, expectations are high a little bit closer to home.
Gina Procaccio, head coach of the women's team at Villanova, expressed confidence in the team that she is bringing to Franklin Field next week.
"I think we are, for the first time in five years, positioned to challenge for one of the championships," said Procaccio, whose distance medley relay team finished in second place by half a second at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
"I think our best shot would be the DMR." However, we have a shot just like about three other teams," she added. "It has gotten way more competitive than it was in my day as an athlete."
The Michigan men's track and field team, led by coach Ron Warhurst, will also arrive with hopes of stealing a few titles. Michigan first broke into the spotlight when the team's distance medley relay, anchored by Kevin Sullivan, earned an NCAA championship title 10 years ago.
"We are going to run the distance medley and we are going to run a 4xMile and a 4x800," said Warhurst, who is planning on bringing a total of 25 athletes to Penn this week. "The tentative plans are to make a very strong showing in the distance medley on Friday, and come back on Saturday and make an attempt -- I say make an attempt -- at the 16-minute barrier. And then whatever we've got left we will stand tall at the 4x800m."
Some of the colleges are bringing athletes who competed in the high school events of the Penn Relays.
"We have a little eastern flavor coming from the Midwest," said Warhurst, referring to the members of his team who ran for high schools from around the Philadelphia area.
While Warhurst's squad may be the team to beat in many of the men's events, there is by no means a lack of competition.
Arkansas, coached by John McDonnell, is another team eyeing the 16-minute barrier for the 4xMile and should have a competitive squad across several of the longer races.
"I think that between Arkansas and Michigan, you've got the two top teams in the country in the middle distance and distance relays," Penn Relays director Dave Johnson said.
