Good night!

As the stadium stands empty, day one of the 129th edition of the Penn Relays has come to an end! Thanks for following along with our coverage today, and we’ll be back with more from the nation’s biggest track-and-field event tomorrow morning.

Notre Dame’s Robert Cozean wins college men’s 10,000m championship to end first day of 2025 Penn Relays

The college men’s 10,000-meter race took to the track to cap off the first night of the Penn Relays. Circling the track for a final hurrah of opening day, the field stayed tightly together.

Eastern Kentucky and Notre Dame quickly took the lead as two runners from each school moved to the front of the pack. Kristian Imroth and Mario Priego of Eastern Kentucky took a 20m lead in the first five minutes to set a fast pace, and Robert Cozean and Ryan Schumacher of Notre Dame led the trailing pack.

By the 13-minute mark, Eastern Kentucky fell away. Both Notre Dame runners surged, reaching the halfway point of the race at a 29-minute pace.

Brian Limo of Kennesaw State and Hayes Trapp of William & Mary took over before Florida State’s Lucas Bouquot made an aggressive move. The leader of the race would keep shifting before Cozean established a clear and unrelinquishable lead, finishing in first with a time of 29:01.23 to earn himself a championship watch.

Villanova’s Sadie Sigfstead sets 15th-best time in nation to win college women’s 10,000m championship

The longest track and field event of the Penn Relays didn’t disappoint.

Thirty athletes competed in the college women’s 10,000-meter championship. With 25 laps around Franklin Field, the event did not disappoint. At the halfway mark, two Villanova runners, Emma McGill and Sadie Sigfstead, were leading a breakaway group of five runners. As time went on, McGill left the race as North Carolina State’s Grace Hartman, who has already won an event today, fought to stay on Sigfstead’s heels.

Sigfstead easily finished in first place after her teammates set the pace, ending with a time of 32:39.54 — good for 15th in the nation this year.

Junior distance runner standout Lily Murphy, who is a 2024 Ivy League heptagonal champion and qualifier for the 2024 NCAA championships in the 10,000m race, represented the Quakers. Although Murphy did not compete in the indoor season in 2025, she competed in six outdoor meets in 2024. Her personal best time of 32:40.92 came during the Raleigh Relays in March 2024.

Murphy, who is known for her endurance and pacing, finished near the back of the pack with a time of 34:53.14 — well below her personal best.

Tarheels on top: Leading four break Penn Relays record

The first heat of the college men’s 5000-meter championship was one for the record books as UNC Chapel Hill runners Parker Wolfe, Ethan Strand, and Colton Sands finished first, second, and third, respectively. Each broke the Penn Relays event record, finishing milliseconds apart at times around 13:31.

The college men’s 5000m championship took place immediately after the college women’s 5000m championship heats wrapped up. Penn senior runner Dylan Throop — who has been having a phenomenal final season with Penn before he transfers to Notre Dame — headlined the field for the Quakers.

Throop has racked up accolades, including being recognized as a 2024 United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American, earning NCAA All-Region honors, and being named first team All-Ivy. Most recently, he broke his own school record in the men’s 10,000m race at the Raleigh Relays. He also holds the indoor record for the 5000m race with a time of 13:49.06, which he set at the Larry Ellis Invitational in 2023.

Senior runner Luke Johnson and junior runner Nicholas Carpenter competed in the first heat with Throop. Johnson, who competed at the NCAA cross country championships in 2024, finished eighth in the 5000m race earlier this year at the Ivy League heptagonal indoor track and field championships with a personal best time of 14:09.44.

Carpenter had not run the 5000m race before but competed in the 10,000m race at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic regional championships, where he set a personal best. Senior runner Silas Ruth also competed in heat one, previously setting his career best in this event at the Raleigh Relays in 2023.

Throop took off with the gun calmly, and he made his way to the middle of the pack while Johnson and Carpenter followed behind. Johnson and Carpenter stayed together in the back of the leading pack of 15 runners for the majority of the race, with Throop steadily remaining around eighth place.

Throop and Johnson lost their respective packs with three laps to go as the front four leaders trailed away, and the two later crossed the finish line back to back — finishing 0.61 seconds apart in ninth and tenth places, respectively. Carpenter began to fade at the 3000m mark, and he finished the race at 23rd in the heat.Underclassmen made up the rest of Penn’s representation in the event. Four athletes competed for the Red and Blue in the second heat: freshman runners Joseph Ruiz and Shane Murphy and sophomore runners Brian Gent and Kofi Fordjour. The freshmen had not previously competed in this event, but they finished first and third, respectively, in the 3000m race at the Philadelphia Metro earlier this season.

Gent did not run earlier this fall but ran during the 2025 indoor season, posting a personal best in the mile at the Philadelphia Metro. Fordjour has logged six meets this season and is ready to roll at his second Penn Relays. Freshman runner Diego Mendez-Colon — who has run in six meets so far this season, including a fifth-place finish at the Haverford Invitational on Oct. 25 in the 4000m race — ran with Ruth in the third heat.

Fordjour did not finish the race, and the freshmen and sophomores remained toward the back of the second heat. Ruiz, Murphy, and freshman distance specialist Raghav Gopalakrishnan finished the heat 39th, 44th, and 46th, respectively. In the third heat, Ruth and Mendez-Colon did not finish.

Throop led the way for Penn with a time of 13:41.03. The overall winner was UNC’s Wolfe with a time of 13:31.09.

Vera Sjoberg of Boston University dominates in college women’s 5000m championship

As the day turned to night, the college women’s championship for the 5000-meter race got underway with three Penn student-athletes taking the track.

After the first heat’s conclusion, Boston University distance specialist Vera Sjoberg led the pack by nine seconds with a 15:40.76 finish. Sjoberg had little competition in the last third of the race, holding an over 60 meter lead at times, en route to secure the championship.

Two Penn student-athletes lined up to compete in the second heat: senior distance specialist Nora Wollen and junior distance specialist Anna Weirich. Today marked Weirich’s first outing in the event. She previously posted a time of 10:31.98 at the Penn Classic earlier this year. Wollen also came in with a previous best of 16:40.60 at the Ivy Heptagonal Indoor Championships for an eighth place finish.Woolen finished in 16:32.99, a new personal best, with Weirich just behind with a time of 16:59.61. No one in the second heat could catch up to Sjoberg’s blazing speed.

The third heat marked former Daily Pennsylvanian staffer and senior distance specialist Anastasia Russell’s turn to compete. She had success at last year’s Penn Relays where she set a personal best of 17:09.50, but has not yet marked a similar time since then. Today, Russell finished with a time of 17:06.06, a new personal best.

Photo by Kenny Chen

Texas A&M’s Debora Cherono and Iona’s Billy Coogan won the college Women’s and Men’s 3000-meter steeplechase, respectively

In her first Penn Relays competition, Texas A&M freshman Debora Cherono won the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Her dominating race did not start at Penn Relays, as she broke A&M’s record for the 1500-meter earlier this season at the Oregon Team Invitational.

Iona freshman Billy Coogan narrowly won the men’s steeplechase. Coogan had held the lead for the last 400 meters of the race when his teammate, Peter Fogarty, inched closer to first place before tripping and falling on the last hurdle to allow Coogan to capture the win.

The college men’s and women’s 5000-meter championships are currently taking place. They will be followed by the college men’s and women’s 10000-meter championship to close out day one of this year’s Penn Relays.

Penn State’s Jake Allen wins college men’s 1500m championship, Penn does not finish

Jake Allen of Penn State secured a nail-biting victory in the first heat of the college men’s 1500-meter championship, beating his fellow heat one opponent, Michael Danzi of Notre Dame, by 1/20th of a second. Allen’s finishing time of 3:43.16 was good enough to secure a championship win.

Penn sophomore distance runner Brian Gent, senior distance runner Silas Ruth, and sophomore distance runner Kofi Fordjour did not finish in their respective heats  — even after leading for the first 800 meters.

This is neither Gent nor Ruth’s first Penn Relays, but Fordjour is competing for the first time. Fordjour and Gent recorded personal bests for the 2024 outdoor season at the Paul Donahue Invitational in the 1500m race, with Fordjour finishing with a time of 3:50.77 and Gent with a time of 4:00.56.

Ruth recorded a personal best in the 1500m race at the 2024 Penn Challenge, with a time of 3:58.13. He also competed in steeplechase at the 2024 Penn Relays.

Photo by Lydia Tong

Grace Hartman of North Carolina State wins college women’s 1500m championship

Four Penn athletes — junior distance runner Kiera Duffy, junior distance runner and former Daily Pennsylvanian staffer Lara Cota, senior distance runner Katie Pou, and sophomore distance runner Lindsay Yakaboski — competed in the third and fourth heats of the college women’s 1500-meter championship.

Duffy and Yakaboski did not complete the race, working to pace the other runners in their respective heats for the first 800 meters. Pou ran in the back of the front pack of runners for the majority of the race, with Cota trailing behind.

In the end, Pou placed third in the heat and 33rd overall with a time of 4:23.89 for a career best, and Cota finished in seventh in the heat and 41st overall with a time of 4:27.25.

Cota ran her career best in this race last season at the Paul Donahue Invitational with a time of 4:33.74, and Duffy set her own personal best at that meet with a time of 4:43.30. This race was Yakaboski’s second-ever 1500m race and her second incompletion after similarly not finishing at last year’s Penn Relays.

North Carolina State’s Grace Hartman finished first in her heat and first overall by a landslide, notching a time of 4:07.19 that ranks her sixth in the NCAA this year.

Photo by Lydia Tong

Pitt’s Devin Nugent wins college men’s 400m hurdles championship, Penn places 31st and 34th

A panther ran, jumped, and leaped his way to a championship.

Pitt hurdles/sprints specialist Devin Nugent ran a 50.36-second finish to secure the title in the college men’s 400-meter hurdles championship, marking his second straight win in the event. Two Quakers also competed in the event.

The event took place at 6:05 p.m. with the sun beginning to set and a nice breeze coming in at Franklin Field. Penn sophomore sprints/hurdles specialist Sean Golembiewski and freshman distance runner Cade Swart donned the red and blue and faced a multitude of athletes from different conferences, including the Ivy League.

Nugent, running out of heat one and lane seven, used his outside blazing speed to blow by his competitors. Following close behind him in the first heat was Virginia’s Alex Sherman and Clemson’s Jayden Brown, who finished their races with times of 50.77 and 50.87, respectively.

The championship consisted of a total of six heats, with Golembiewski running in heat three out of lane nine and Swart running in heat four out of lane eight. The national record of 47.02 seconds in the event was set in 2018 by 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist Rai Benjamin. The Penn Relays record is a time of 49.02, set by Ryan Hayden in 1995.

Looking at the Quakers’ indoor seasons, Golembiewski only competed in one indoor meet but made the most of it, finishing fifth in the 500m race with a time of 1:06.32 at the Philadelphia Metro on Feb. 21. Swart, on the other hand, competed in eight indoor meets and ran an 8.33-second race competing in the 60m hurdles at the Ivy League heptagonal track and field championships.

Starting strong in the outside lane, Swart led the pack at the halfway mark of 200 meters, but he couldn’t muster the same energy down the back stretch.

Photo by Anjali Kishore

Penn alum, program record holder places third in college women’s 400m hurdles championship

Aliya Garozzo, a Penn track and field alumna, finished in third in the college women’s 400-meter hurdles championship with a time of 57.01. After a strong start, Garozzo was in fourth place at the 200m mark. She closed the gap in the final 100 meters for a photo finish, placing second in her heat merely 0.04 seconds behind the first-place finisher, Texas Christian hurdler Amelliah Birdow.

After competing at the Penn Relays during her sophomore and junior years of high school, Garozzo ran as a Quaker for four years before competing as a graduate student-athlete in her final year of eligibility at Duke. At Penn, she holds the program records in the outdoor 400m hurdles, at 56.34 seconds, and the indoor 60m hurdles, at 8.29 seconds. Her illustrious career reached new heights when she competed at the United States Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., finishing seventh in the semifinals of the 400m hurdles.

Her success in spikes has made her an idol in the eyes of current Penn track and field athletes.

“You could see the amount of dedication and work [Garozzo] was putting into the sport, but also the care and compassion that she had for her teammates,” junior sprinter Fore Abinusawa previously told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “I feel like that’s someone that I truly cherish and look up to, not just as a teammate, but also as a friend.”

Penn junior sprinter/hurdler Annika Topchy placed 25th in the 400m hurdles with a 1:00.83 finish, and freshman multi-event specialist Sarah Dumas placed 36th with a time of 1:04.17 — both were competing at the Penn Relays for the first time in their collegiate careers. Dumas increased her time after falling with less than 100 meters left in the race.

Both runners have had better times in recent months. Dumas opened up the season at the Penn Challenge, finishing first with a time of 1:02.09 in the 400m hurdles and set a personal best with a time of 1:01.02 in the 400m hurdles at the Tom Jones Invitational.

Topchy ran a time of 1:00.83 in the 400m hurdles at the South Florida Invitational.

Photo by Lydia Tong

New event record for high school boys’ 4x400m Suburban ChesMont relay

As the high school boys’ 4x400-meter heats concluded, Downingtown West’s relay team of student-athletes Josiah Wade, Olo Kolade, Ryan Witherspoon, and Andrew Ernest set an event record in the 4x400m Suburban ChesMont relay with a time of 3:15.18, the ninth-fastest time in the 4x400m relay today. If their placement holds, their time will earn them a spot in the championship heat.

Last year, Downingtown West, with Kolade and Ernst again, finished fifth in the high school boys’ 4x400m Philadelphia-area relay at 3:22.89. Coming up next are the college championship races, where Penn runners will compete for glory.

Quincy Wilson outpaces Excelsior for electric finish

Quincy Wilson, the youngest track-and-field Olympic gold medalist in history, set the track on fire in the 4x400-meter relay as he anchored for Bullis School in the 87th heat.

The relay team of starter leg Kenneth Adams, second leg Colin Abrams, third leg Alexander Lambert, and fourth leg Wilson finished in first place with the fastest time of the day at 3:11.04 — an improvement from the team’s time of 3:13.00 in the championship heat last year.In a heated matchup and following two false starts, the race was tense. Adams was quickly cut off by his competitors but soon climbed to second place when he handed off to Abrams, who competed in this race with Wilson last year. Abrams took the lead early, but Excelsior and Holmwood Tech would not let him get away as they took over in the second exchange. Lambert closed the gap for superstar Wilson to start just behind Excelsior. The two stalwart anchors were side by side until Wilson gapped the lead with 200 meters to go.

While running in the anchor leg in last year’s 4x400m relay championships, Wilson completed a legendary track hawk that finished his team in third place overall with a time of 3:13.10, just behind Jamaican powerhouses Kingston College and Excelsior in the championship heat. Notably, he clocked the fastest high school 400m split ever recorded with a time of 44.37. Kingston College, the reigning champions of the 4x400m relay at the Penn Relays, ran a remarkable 3:13.22 just a few heats before, and Calabar clocked the current best time of the day with 3:11.58. Calabar holds the first, second, and fourth all-time best results in the 4x400m relay.

Related:

• Teenage phenom Quincy Wilson set to return to the 2025 Penn Relays

Three-peat: Harvard's Kenneth Ikeji earns third straight Penn Relays win in hammer throw

No. 19 world-ranked Harvard thrower Kenneth Ikeji has won his third consecutive College Men’s Hammer Throw Championship with a throw of 71.37 meters, falling below his own record of 74.15 meters from the 2024 Penn Relays.During the 2024 outdoor season, Ikeji collected a plethora of awards, including his third Ivy League title, with a 73.33m throw. He ended the 2024 season with second place at the NCAA Championships.

He now joins an exclusive group of athletes to three-peat at Penn Relays, including pole vaulter Veronica Vacca of Mount St. Joseph, who three-peated as a junior in high school.Penn senior thrower Scott Dochat finished tenth with a 60.61m throw.

Photo by Uma Mukhopadhyay

Penn senior thrower Scott Dochat set to feature in college men’s hammer throw championship

As the high school boys’ 4x400-meter relay events continue, the first collegiate men’s event has begun: the college men’s hammer throw championship.

Penn senior thrower Scott Dochat finished 15th for the Quakers at last year’s Penn Relays with a throw of 57.22 meters and will compete again this year. During the 2024 outdoor season, Dochat placed sixth at the 2024 IC4A/ECAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the hammer throw with a 61.12-meter finish.

Harvard thrower Kenneth Ikeji is favored to three-peat as champion; he threw 74.15 meters at last year’s Penn Relays. No high school boys’ team has recorded a sub-3:20 time yet in the ongoing 4x400m events, although some have come close: Cumberland Valley posted a 3:21:31 mark in the 72nd event of the day.

Only time will tell which team will be first to break the illustrious mark.

Photo by Uma Mukhopadhyay

College women’s hammer throw marks first Penn Relays collegiate championships of the day

As the high school boys’ 4x400-meter relay rages on, the first collegiate championship event of the day concluded just past 3 p.m. with the college women’s hammer throw championship. Army’s Emily Fink, who did not compete at last year’s Penn Relays, became the first collegiate athlete to receive a Penn Relays championship watch at this year’s competition with her victory.

Fink took the lead after her third throw flew 63.83 meters, outdistancing Maryland’s Chioma Njoku — whose throw of 62.77 meters was good for second place — and Harvard’s Emilia Kolokotroni, who threw 62.50 meters for third place. Kolokotroni improved from her fourth-place finish last year. No one came close to the 2022 record of 77.67 meters.

Clemson’s Marie Forbes placed first in 2024, throwing a distance of 63.49 meters. However, this year’s hammer throw championships did not feature any Clemson athletes.

Penn men's basketball head coach Fran McCaffery makes appearance at Penn Relays

Former player for and current head coach of Penn men’s basketball Fran McCaffery took to the field for the Penn Relays moments ago.

When McCaffery was a student in his last year at Penn, Villanova won the 4x800-meter relay, setting a meet record of 7:12.28 — one of the most famous performances of that year.

This result earned the 1982 Villanova 4x800m relay team an induction into the Penn Relays Wall of Fame. McCaffery’s return to Penn this year could potentially be a good omen for the Wildcats as they look to win big.

Photo by Lydia Tong

High school boys back in action with two-hour slate of 4x400m relay races

After a brief hiatus for the Masters and Special Olympics races, the high school boys’ races return for the next two hours. From 2:10 to 4:26 p.m., 4x400-meter relay events will dominate the track.

In the second-to-last heat, 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist Quincy Wilson will compete for Bullis in the high schoolers’ second Penn Relays. Bullis came third last year in the championship round of the 4x400m relay, falling only to Kingston College and Excelsior.

Buena Regional placed first in the first heat of the event with a time of 3:37.69, setting a fast pace.

Shocking finish for Masters men’s 4x400m 40-and-older relay as Southwest Sprinters secures dominant victory

The Southwest Sprinters TC emerged victorious in the Masters men’s 4x400-meter 40-and-older relay, taking home the win with a landslide 26-second edge over the second-place competitors.

The race for second place was intense, with Mass Velocity M45 and Greater Philadelphia TC A consistently neck and neck. In the last few seconds of the race for second, Greater Philadelphia, which placed fifth last year, finally overtook Mass Velocity, which dropped down a spot from last year to place third.The Southwest Sprinters’ 26-second win was by far the largest margin of victory of the day.

This win also marks the club’s second win of this year’s Penn Relays. The team’s runners in the event — Tom Gates, Antwon Dussett, Sean Burnett, and Kelly Willie — built up and maintained a lead from the start.

Photo by Lydia Tong

Penn places last in college women’s hammer throw

The college women’s hammer throw took place in the field section as the high school boys finished their 4x100-meter relays.

This year’s competitors were vying not only to win first place, but also to beat the Penn Relays women’s hammer throw record of 61.47 meters — set by Cammy Garabian of Harvard in 2023. While the record was not broken this year, several throwers came close.Gabrielle Deglau of Penn State took first place this year, throwing 56.42 meters, while Avery Hastings of Cornell took second place with a 55.70-meter result.

These results are surprising given that neither school competed in this event at last year’s Penn Relays. Hampton’s Abria Smith won the 2024 Penn Relays college women’s hammer throw championship, throwing 58.21 meters.

Penn junior thrower Stella Inman placed last in this year’s event, throwing 47.60 meters.

Age is just a number: Masters-level relay runners steal the show

With a break after the high school boys, the Masters-level races took to Franklin Field’s iconic red track.

The women’s 4x100-meter 40-and-older relay got underway first. Central Park TC claimed victory, improving by 2.75 seconds from its finish at the 2024 Penn Relays. Lisa Edwards and Nikisha Alcindor returned from last year, while Allison Murphy and Santa Medina proved to be useful contributors. Shore AC, which won the Masters women’s 4x100m 40-and-older relay in 2024 with a time of 54.50 seconds, failed to record a finish this year.

Afterward, the men warming up on the field took position in their respective lanes for the Masters men’s 4x100m 70-and-older relay. With a standing ovation from the crowd, the Houston Elite A claimed victory once more — a repeat victory from last year. Shaving off 3.48 seconds for a 55.96-second finish, this year’s team still featured Michael Kish — a previous viral sensation — and Don Warren while introducing new members David Ortman and Charles Allie. A member of the Houston Elite from 2024, Anthony Baker, competed with the Houston Elite B team this year, which finished in third.

Next up in the Masters series was the men’s 4x100m 60-and-older relay. Southwest Sprinters TC won first place at 50.62 seconds, beating last year’s winner, Flashpoint, which took first at the 2024 Penn Relays with 51.84 seconds. The Southwest Sprinters did not place at last year’s Penn Relays, but this year’s first leg, Michael Bradecamp, won the bronze medal in the men’s 4x100m 60-and-older relay at the 2024 World Masters Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Masters men’s 4x100m 40/50-and-older relay kept up the hype and wrapped up the first set of Masters-level relays. After placing second last year, the Southwest Sprinters team continued its dominance and took first place this year with a 43.70-second finish — a 4.07-second improvement from its previous performance and 0.32 seconds faster than last year’s winners.

This year’s race also featured the Penn Track Alumni team, which finished in seventh place.

Photo by Lydia Tong

High school boys’ 4x100m relay ends in blazing fashion

The high school boys’ 4x100-meter relay heats have wrapped after six total heats. Calabar and Kingston College of Jamaica currently hold the best times of the relay at a blazing 40.24 and 40.70 seconds, respectively.

Jamaica College finished close behind the schools at 41.04 seconds. Archbishop John Carroll of Washington and Excelsior of Jamaica posted comparable times of 41.03 and 41.08 seconds, respectively. Excelsior won the high school boys’ 4x100m relay last year at 40.45 seconds.

The nine fastest times will qualify for the championship final, which will take place tomorrow at 1:50 p.m.

‘Penn’ flying high in high school boys’ high jump championship

Despite collegiate athletes not competing until later in the day, “Penn” has already seen one victory.

Chavez Penn, a high schooler from Jamaica College, won the high school boys’ high jump championship with a jump of 2.09 meters. Battling it out with Archbishop John Carroll’s Vance Harris and North Penn’s Trip Campbell for six rounds, Penn was able to fly the highest.

Penn is one of four Jamaican high school athletes to secure a victory in a field event, with Kingston College’s Despiro Wray winning the high school boys’ shot put championship, Edwin Allen’s Addison James winning the high school boys’ javelin throw championship, and St. Elizabeth Tech’s Rikoy Hunter winning the high school boys’ long jump championship.

And we're off!

The 129th Penn Relay Carnival opened with the High School Boys’ 4x400-meter relays bright and early at 9 a.m. this morning.

St. John’s College and Manheim Township High School battled for the best record in the first race of the day, running shoulder to shoulder in the last lap around Franklin Field. St. John’s just barely won by four hundredths of a second and posted a time of 7:40.65 — compared to Manheim’s 7:40:69. But both schools by far outran the other teams in the next three heats, and the winners of the other races came in with times 6-10 seconds slower.

The 12 teams with the best times out of these four races will compete at the High School Boys Championship of America tomorrow afternoon.

In field events, Ashton Hearn of Christian Brothers won the high school boys’ discus throw championship, throwing 64 feet and 3 inches.

Photo by Weining Ding