While Philadelphia reveled in America 250 festivities, Penn track and field hopped across the pond for two competitions.
Every four years, Penn track and field teams up with Cornell to take on the Achilles Club of Oxford and Cambridge on their home turf in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The event, dubbed the Transatlantic Series, has been a focal point of Ivy League athletics since 1894 — predating the modern Olympic games.
The Quakers and the Big Red swept the series, scoring a decisive 130-65 victory on the women’s side and 114-83 on the men’s side. They teamed up again to take on other U.K. universities for the Birmingham Ivy League Match on July 3, winning by an impressive 80-point margin for a score of 246-166.
Rising sophomore thrower Jessica Oji headlined the action for the Quakers, shattering the Transatlantic series shot put record with a 16.91-meter lob on her first attempt. Oji also claimed an outright victory in the mixed discus, throwing the implement 45.24 meters on her first successful attempt — nearly 3.5 meters farther than the male runner-up, Cornell’s Joe Seib.
Here’s how the Quakers fared for the rest of the competition.
Transatlantic Series
2026 Wharton graduate Kampton Kam stunned in his second-to-last competition representing the Quakers, claiming victory in the men’s high jump after clearing the 2.10-meter bar. 2026 College graduate Mark Hellwig, Jr., took the silver in a Penn-Cornell podium sweep with a successful clearance at the 1.95-meter bar.
Rising sophomore pole vaulter Thomas Bucks was the next Quaker to claim victory, soaring to 4.95 meters. Bucks cleared every bar cleanly on his first attempt before jumping to the 5.22-meter bar, two centimeters higher than his personal-best mark.
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Rising sophomore sprinter Simeon Adams rounded out the gold medalists on the men’s side with a victory in the 200-meter dash. Adams, who broke the school record in the event earlier in the season, held off Achilles’ Pelumi Babalola until the line, finishing in 21.87 seconds.
On the women’s side, rising sophomore sprinter/hurdler Sofia Swindell took the oval by storm, sweeping the hurdles events. In her first-ever collegiate 400-meter hurdles race, Swindell edged out teammate and 2026 College graduate Annika Topchy at the line by a mere hundredth of a second to claim victory in 1:03.09.
The Princeton, N.J., native, who competes for the British Virgin Islands internationally, doubled back with ease to her signature event, the 100-meter hurdles. Just one month after setting a new program record in the event at Ivy Heps, Swindell ran 14.04 to take the win ahead of Cornell’s Divine Bamgboye.
Rising sophomore sprinters Rianna Floyd and Jailyn Milord continued the American dominance on the track, picking up victories outside of their signature events in the 400-meter run and the 200-meter dash, respectively. Floyd finished nearly three seconds ahead of Cornell’s Francine Stevens in an impressive 55.06, while Milord stopped the clock nearly half a second ahead of the silver medalist in 24.79.
A victory in the 100-meter dash from rising junior Milan Ramey secured a Quaker sprints sweep on the women’s side. Ramey stopped the clock in 11.92, becoming the only woman in the field to dip under the 12-second mark.
Rising senior distance specialist Sarah Fischer was the sole victor from Penn’s distance squad, taking the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:01.15 — over 15 seconds ahead of the next finisher.
Rising senior jumper Adannia Agbo was the final individual Quaker to take a title, winning the triple jump with a 12.55-meter hop, skip, and jump. Agbo’s leap was only 11 centimeters off the standing series record from 2023.
The Red and Blue and Big Red combined to sweep all of the relay action. Floyd, Ramey, and Adams earned their second victories of the series after strong performances in the 4x100-meter relay, while the Quakers utilized the depth of their mid-distance and hurdles roster to fill out solid 4x400-meter relay squads.
After a second-place finish in the 1500-meter run, rising junior L’Mio Edwards took the baton from Cornell’s Francine Stevens, widening the gap between the Ivies and the Achilles Club. Edwards handed off to fellow rising junior Quin Stovall for the third leg, who held down the fort as rising senior Amelia Kristen anchored the Ivy squad to victory in 3:53.52.
The men’s 4x400-meter relay was more contentious, but a strong second leg from 2026 College graduate Nick Pizarro and a valiant anchor effort from rising junior Ben Markham secured a Quaker victory in 3:16.62.
Birmingham Ivy League Match
Swindell set the tone early on in the competition at Birmingham, once again holding off Bamgboye at the line to win the 100-meter hurdles in 14.13 seconds. 2026 College graduate Jake Rose followed suit, cruising to a 14.88-second finish in the 110-meter hurdles in his final competition donning the Red and Blue.
In an Ivy League battle for the men’s javelin title, rising sophomore Griffin Gammon came out on top, besting Cornell’s Joseph Rachiele by almost nine meters with a 55.73-meter toss. The Ivies also went 1-2 on the women’s side, with rising senior Madison Knier earning a silver medal for the Quakers with a 37.16-meter toss on her final attempt.
Stovall came out on top in the mile, running a new outdoor personal record with a 4:56.37 finish. Rising sophomore Vinay Raman narrowly missed the gold medal on the men’s side, getting outkicked by Birmingham’s Isaac Leydon down the final straightaway.
Oji continued her win streak with dominant victories in both the shot put and discus. The Livingston, N.J., native bettered her shot put mark from the Transatlantic Series by nearly a meter, putting the shot 17.71 meters on her best attempt — poising her as a force to be reckoned with coming into the Commonwealth Games and World U20 Championships later this summer.
Interesting results arose as the day went on, and a number of Quakers competed outside of their usual disciplines. Since the British meets fall during the traditional off-season for collegiate athletes, there isn’t pressure to hit NCAA qualification standards or competitive conference marks.
Despite only contesting the pole vault in season, Bucks made his debut in both the long jump and the 100-meter dash. He held his own against the field and hit competitive marks, but his finishes fell toward the bottom of the pack.
Floyd, on the other hand, excelled in her first collegiate 400-meter hurdles, finishing two seconds behind Topchy for a silver medal. It was almost certainly a bittersweet moment for Topchy, who claimed victory in her final meet with the Quakers, but Floyd’s finish could signal the rise of a new standout.
Milord showcased her speed in the 100-meter dash, displaying her consistency across all of the sprint disciplines after an 11.97 finish for the win.
Markham and Adams fought it out to the line in the 400-meter run. In a battle between mid-distance and short sprints, mid-distance came out on top as Markham fended off Adams’ walk down on the final straightaway, crossing the line in 48.70.
Markham had the opportunity to show off his talents in a rare mixed 4x400-meter relay, where he was supported by Floyd, Kristen, and Cornell’s Edgar Thielens. The Ivies took all but one relay section, setting program top-10 marks in the women’s and men’s DMR in the process.
The most exciting action of the trip went down in the men’s 4x100-meter relay, the penultimate event of the Birmingham Ivy League Match. Instead of fielding sprinters, the Quakers opted to utilize high jumper Kam, Markham, rising junior pole vaulter Alex Georgiev, and rising junior hurdler Cade Swart. They finished in a close second behind Birmingham in 43.87.
It may be another four years before the Quakers cross the Atlantic to face the Achilles Club again, but Penn track and field fans will be able to see the Achilles Club facing off against Penn and Cornell at Franklin Field in the near future.
