Quakers set records at Millrose games

A historic weekend in track and field turned into a historic weekend for Penn’s track program.

The Penn women’s track team won the team title at the Millrose Collegiate Invitational at the Armory Saturday, breaking a 23-year-old school record in the sprint medley relay record in the process.

Sensational 800 senior anchor Victoria Strickland passed two runners from Delaware St. and Morgan St. during her leg, allowing Penn to finish at 4:01.98, breaking the old mark by .32 seconds.

Strickland wouldn’t have been able to break the record without her fellow seniors. Renee McDougall opened the 400 on the Armory’s banked 200-meter track before handing off to fellow upperclassmen Leah Brown, who in turn passed the baton to sophomore Gabrielle Piper. Piper, fresh off of posting the second-fastest 60-meter time in school history earlier in the day, kept the Quakers close until she reached Strickland.

The senior triumvirate of Strickland, Brown and McDougall, along with freshman Heather Bong, also delivered a key victory in the 4x400-meter relay, finishing at 3:47.64, the team’s second fastest time this year. With another win in the 4x800-meter, the Penn women’s team finished first in the meet overall, beating Maryland and Ivy rival Columbia.

On the men’s side, Maalik Reynolds continued to amaze, breaking his own school record in the indoor high jump, clearing 7-feet-3.75 to finish third in the Millrose Games to 2011 World Champion Jesse Williams and 2009 USA Outdoor Nationals runner-up Keith Moffatt.

The men’s team also received a season-best time of 1:54.89 from freshman Thomas Tallerico, the next in the line of great 800-meter runners produced at Penn. The Quakers 4x400-meter relay finished second place with an IC4A-qualifying time of 3:19.10.

The men finished fifth out of 20 teams in the Millrose College Invitational.

For many track purists, this year’s Millrose Games represent a key moment in the well-known track meet’s history. For the first time since 1913, the event was held somewhere other than Madison Square Garden, due to dwindling attendance. The move was made to help create a more intimate atmosphere in the smaller Armory located in the upper west side of Manhattan.

The Quakers have already raced at the Armory twice this year, and their performances reflects a degree of comfort at what many consider to be the finest indoor track facility in the U.S. The meet was the teams’ final tune-up before the Indoor Heptagonal Championships in two weeks.