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While all of Penn spent its weekend trying to end the semester with a bang by studying hours on end, one group of students spent its time seeking to go out with a bang by throwing things, jumping around, and running in circles.
“You don’t bet against Awad in the last hundred," Penn director of track and field Steve Dolan said minutes after Penn won its first relay at Penn Relays since 1974.
The runners have taken their places. It’s a beautiful, sunny Saturday in April, and the competitors are lined up in front of a crowd of over 40,000 at Franklin Field.
Like any aging lady, Franklin Field got a facelift this year — and it is a big one.
The new surface of Penn’s track is immaculate — the colors pop out enough to make any graphic designer jump with joy.
Elite athletes of all varieties will head to Franklin Field this weekend, as collegiate superstars in several different events will use the Penn Relays to tune up for NCAA Finals and, hopefully, the Rio Olympics.
There’s succeeding, and then there’s success.
When the Villanova Women’s Distance Medley Relay team collected its first Penn Relays title in 1984, not even the school itself could have predicted the decades of success that were to follow.
The Distance Medley Relay, or DMR, is a race that is comprised of four legs, each of varying length.
Mother nature has not shone brightly on Penn track and field this season. The Quakers have been forced to embrace the elements at the vast majority of their meets.
This weekend should be no different.
If you asked most Penn students if they really enjoyed their toughest Pottruck workouts, the answer would probably be no. Hard runs or the dreaded leg days are often the things that — despite being sometimes necessary — they dread the most.
Calvary Rogers, freshman track phenom, on the other hand, relishes the opportunity to have his coaches push him every day in practice.
On Saturday, amid perfect conditions, Penn’s two track programs combined for 11 event victories and several personal best times at the Chester Quarry Classic, hosted by Widener University.
After a crazy weekend, the track team is reunited. And this time, they mean business.
Last weekend, three groups traveled far and wide in search of elite-level performances that would earn them qualification for the NCAA preliminaries.
Penn track and field was spread thin over three states for three prestigious meets this weekend as the Quakers begin the crescendo towards the Penn Relays and NCAA championships.
It’s a common saying in the world of track and field: “One moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.”
The track and field athletes competing this weekend may not be able to achieve a lifetime of glory just yet, but they can get close — qualification for the NCAA preliminaries.
If all goes as planned for senior men’s track and field stars Thomas Awad and Sam Mattis, this June’s NCAA National Championships won’t mark the end of their respective 2016 seasons.