Of the 20,000 or so athletes competing in this year's Penn Relays, Nicole Leach was definitely among the most appropriate to start the event off with a bang.
In the second event of the day, the West Catholic senior set a new Penn Relays record in the 400-meter hurdles, racing around the track in 57.44 seconds. She also held the previous record of 57.84 seconds, which she set last year.
Breaking the record was particularly special this year for Leach -- not only because it affirmed her status as one of the superstars of this year's high school races, but also because West Catholic High School is located just blocks from Franklin Field at 45th and Chestnut Streets.
"I couldn't ask for anything else my senior year," she said.
Even with all the organized chaos in the paddock that is a perennial feature of the Penn Relays high school races, Leach said that she didn't have too much trouble focusing on the task at hand.
"You've just got to think good thoughts with the race," she said. "Once you're in the paddock, you've just got to suck it up.".
Leach's father, Hubert, watched his daughter race with a rooting interest, even though he is also a Penn Relays official. He spent the day overseeing the paddock and watching the runners go by from a prime viewing spot underneath the Franklin Field scoreboard.
"I know my family [and] everyone can make it," Nicole said. "It's a big meet, and it attracts a lot of fans."
Later in the day, Leach helped West Catholic to victory in its 4x100m and 4x400m heats. The Burrs' team completed the 4x100m relay in 47.93 seconds, and the 4x400m in 3:46.29. Leach ran the anchor leg of the latter race in 53.3 seconds, the fastest split of the day for high school girls.
This coming fall, Leach is heading across the country to join the track team at UCLA. Despite the thousands of miles that separate Los Angeles and Philadelphia, Leach said that plenty of people out West know what the Penn Relays are.
'"They always hear about it," she said. "They definitely know it's a big deal."
The bigger question, though, is whether she'll come back to Franklin Field to race as a Bruin.
Her answer was simple:
"Yeah, I will."
Notes: A brief but strong rainstorm drove spectators under cover in Franklin Field's lower deck just before 4:00 p.m. Races continued uninterrupted, though, and the runners seemed to not be affected by the weather. In a 4x400m relay contested while the rain was at its strongest, three teams-perennial powers Holmwood Tech, Long Beach Poly and St. Jago -- posted times of under four minutes. Most of the ad boards along the final stretch, however, were not so fortunate, and race officials scrambled to keep them in place amidst very high winds.
Thursday's attendance was 25,189.
