Penn Relays: 4x800m group learns dynamics of a relay

Running is the individual. It is how fast you can go, how hard you can push your body, how badly you want that time, and how much you want to beat yourself. It is about you and your personal performance.

Or so the thinking goes.

The women of the Quakers' 4x800-meter relay, however, beg to differ.

In a sport where the concentration is often on the accomplishments of a single sprinter or jumper, it is difficult to find the cohesion within a group of athletes whose performances don't depend much on one another.

But there is no greater showcase for this display of teamwork than at the Penn Relays.

"I've been running the Penn Relays for two years now, and the most exciting event is always the 4x800m," said freshman Anna Aagenes, who ran in the Relays at Central Bucks West. "I've always enjoyed relays much more than individual events because you run for your team and not just for yourself."

Although the exact line-up for Saturday's 4x800m event will not be determined until later this week, the Quakers' usual top mid-distance performers of senior Tina Morrison, juniors Claire and Stacy Kim, and Aagenes are all likely candidates for the event.

"It's a lot different from high-school running," Morrison said of the transition to college competition. "In high school you think you're the best in your field, but here, most of the girls who I run with are just so talented."

There is no event that better symbolizes their team's integrity, most players say, stressing their season-long emphasis on working not only for themselves but for one another.

"In an open race, you have yourself to worry about - and your team to a certain respect," Morrison added. "In a relay, everything you do has an impact on everything else. It brings us together and makes us who we are as a team."

The women's relay runners have seen their share of successes not only this season but in past Penn Relays. Last year Penn grabbed fifth among a highly competitive field in the distance medley relay as Villanova won a thriller.

The strategy surrounding a relay is certainly different from the cut-and-dry pace of an individual event.

"You don't necessarily all start at the same place once the race starts," Claire Kim said. "Wherever you get it, that's where you have to go from.

"In some sense, you can call it pressure. In another sense, it adds more to the excitement."

For the Kim twins, it was an unusual adjustment as distance runners to a shorter race that weighs so heavily on their teammates' performances.

"This is our 11th year of running," Stacy Kim explained. "As a distance runner, we're always individuals. Now we think, 'I have to run well because it will make my teammate's run much easier.'"

And Penn's 4x800m squad will be one of the most individually talented gatherings that will compete for the Quakers.

And the group realizes that they combine to represent one team.

"There are no superstars on the team," said Morrison.

"We run together."

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