Modi | 2013 Penn Relays all about heart

Heart.

It was the word of the weekend and sums up the most memorable performances of the 119th Penn Relays.

Heart to get up after a fall and finish a race. Heart to break records. Heart to run down the lead runner on Franklin Field’s famous short straightaways.

We witnessed performance after performance in which underdogs overcame huge odds, newcomers took down perennial champions and competitors left it all on the track.

Let’s start with the heart of the Penn Relays, the high school boys 4×400-meter relay, where two-time defending champion Munro College had already run 3:10.01 in the preliminaries to stake its claim to a third straight title.

Munro was not only the two-time defending champion but the Jamaican champions as well. The school was anchored by 19-year-old Delano Williams, who has the fastest 200m time of any athlete – high school, college or professional – in the world this year.

Fast forward to the final leg, where Williams held a 10-meter lead over Calabar’s Javon Francis.

Coming down the back stretch, Francis lost his form but kept accelerating his legs. As Williams maintained his even stride, Francis kept sprinting, arms swinging and feet churning. He crossed the line just .33 seconds ahead of his rival and collapsed into his teammates’ arms.

His split, 44.8 seconds, was the fastest in Penn Relays history and I can’t even convey the sheer exhaustion on his face. It was a performance that was unforgettable for anyone in the stadium and for anyone who is a fan of track and field.

Prior to the 4×400, the biggest performance of the Relays belonged to one of the smallest runners. In the college women’s 4×800m relay, Emily Lipari, who was dwarfed by her Oregon competitor Laura Roesler, lost her lead with 300 meters to go.

Rather than buckle, Lipari lengthened her stride and kept chugging. Seeing her run down Roesler, as a section of ‘Nova athletes chanted her name in the corner, brought the crowd to its feet and a standing ovation for Lipari from the 48,000 in attendance.

“That was the gutsiest performance I’ve ever seen,” remarked a Texas A&M coach sitting nearby.

But heart wasn’t only for the winners.

In that same race, Indiana’s Brie Roller was mowed down during the start, spiked in four places and stayed down for a few minutes. She restarted the race, finished her leg of the relay and then collapsed on the track. Unable to move, she was transferred to a wheelchair and taken over to the medical tent.

It was a moment of pure determination and will.

Most importantly, it was a moment of pure heart.

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