Allyson Felix in action in the medely relay at Penn Relays (© Kirby Lee)
U.S. Sets Women’s Sprint Medley World Best at Penn Relays - DAY 3 REPORT
Philadelphia, USA – It took a World best in the sprint medley relay for the United States women to sweep the relays for the third year in a row in the featured USA vs The World competition in the 111th Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field on Saturday.
The U.S. men’s domination were far from perfect on a rainy afternoon, suffering its first loss since the inception of USA vs The World in 2000 with a loss to the Jamaicans in the 4x400m relay after a fall by Tyree Washington in the second leg.
World Best in Sprint Medley
The United States and Jamaica turned in the two fastest times of 3:37.32 and 3:37.87 on the all-time list in the women’s sprint medley. Both teams were well under the global standard of 3:41.78 set by Tennessee in the 2004 Penn relays.
The Americans had a 10m lead heading into the 800m anchor after opening 200 legs by Allyson Felix and Kia Davis and a 400m leg by Debbie Dunn. Hazel Clark, however, had to hold off a late charge by Jamaica’s Kenia Sinclair for the U.S. to hold onto the victory.
“It took guts, just pride in my country and pride in my team,” Clark said. “I told myself to dig and stay cool. I knew they were coming.’’
The World best was the latest accolade for Felix, 19, who won the 2004 Olympic silver 200m medal after turning professional after her senior year of high school.
“This is a big accomplishment but this was more of a time to just run at home and with your teammates,” Felix said. “This is totally different than (the Olympics).’’
Three World Relay Leaders for U.S. Women
The sprint medley was among three World leading marks for the U.S. women, who opened with a 42.68 effort in the 4x100m and concluded it with a 3:22.93 clocking in the 4x400m relay.
The U.S. men looked almost as dominating after posting wins in the 4x100 in 38.58.
In the 4x400, the top-seeded USA Red team failed to finish after second leg Tyree Washington clipped his spikes on the Bahamas’ Chris Brown and fell face down at the 300m mark.
Jamaica won in 3:02.63 after Davian Clarke held off a spirited effort by Leonard Byrd of the USA Blue Team down the homestretch to set off a frenzy of Jamaican flag-waving supporters in the crowd of 44.416.
U.S. Dominance in the 4x100
The men’s and women’s 4x100m squads ran to dominating 1-2 finishes. A USA Red team of Angela Daigle, Lauryn Williams, Inger Miller and LaTasha Colander sped to a 42.68 to 43.15 victory over a USA Blue team of Angela Williams, Felix, Stephanie Durst and Muna Lee. Jamaica was third in 43.50.
There was excitement in the men’s race and the crowd wandered whether Olympic 100m champion could make up a 7-metre deficit against J.J. Johnson on the anchor Gatlin outleaned Johnson for a 38.58 to 38.60 win.
Redemption for U.S. men in the 4x100
The American’s 1-2 finish in the 4x100m relay avenged a defeat to Great Britain in the 2004 Olympics when the U.S. was beaten by a hundredth of a second after a sub-par exchange.
Great Britain, which finished fourth at Penn with Athens Olympians Jason Gardner and Mark Lewis-Francis on the first and fourth legs, was never in contention against American teams.
The USA Red team had three members from Athens with Coby Miller, Leonard Scott, Shawn Crawford and Gatlin but found itself trailing a USA Blue team of Mardy Scales, Jason Smoots, Darvis Patton and Johnson after three legs.
“It sounded like we were in the Olympic stadium running in the Olympics,” Gatlin said. “It was like redemption. I had confidence in my team to run down anybody that I needed to. Whoever is in front of you is going to get mowed down.’’
On a day of shaky baton exchanges, the best transition for Gatlin on Saturday was rushing to the airport to catch a flight to Washington D.C. in time for a Black Tie dinner at the White House on Saturday night host by President George Bush.
Scott and Crawford train under coach Trevor Graham in Raleigh, N.C. and Scott was a former college teammate at Tennessee. However, the four put in only “about 10 minutes” of relay practice.
Crawford and Gatlin said although training together has been conducive to their gold medal performances in Athens, they rarely work on exchanges and only “own one baton” between them.
“We have so many things going on as individuals, we don’t get much time to give to our relay,” Gatlin said. “If we can give more time to our relay, we’re going to go out there and smash World records.’’
Sending a Message to Helsinki
The U.S. women’s relay exchanges could still use some work but Colander and Miller were impressed by the Americans performances despite the weather and limited practice. The teams practiced exchanges on Friday with various orders. The final lineups were not announced until Saturday morning.
It all comes down to communication and I think that we do that well,” Miller said. “If we have 10 minutes or 10 days, it’s all about communication. As long was we get the handoffs off, we know that we can win this. Even though the handoffs were bad, we were able to get the stick around the track.’’
Colander, a member of the 4x100m relay that dropped the baton in the Athens final, also left Penn with a positive outlook.
“This is confidence that when we get in there and have different legs.” Colander said. “We have really positioned ourselves to be in the mix in Helsinki.’’
Disappointment Continues for Washington
Tyree Washington was hoping to use the Penn Relays as a boost to his 2005 season after failing to advance to the U.S. Olympic Trials finals in the 400m after missing a month of training because of an Achille’s Tendon injury.
Instead, Washington found himself face down on the track when he tangled with the Bahamas’ Chris Brown while trying to pass on the outside.
Washington, the 2003 World Indoor 400m champion, had considered retirement from track last season to pursue a career in football before returning this spring to take a shot at the World Championships.
“In track, you always have to be at the top physical shape or you’re going to get beat,” Washington said. “In football, you can still be hurt and outrun people and catch passes.’’
American Women 4 x 400 Relay Ready to Defend World Title
The American women’s 4x400m appear primed to defend their World title after a team of 2004 gold medallists DeeDee Trotter, Sanya Richards and Monique Henderson teamed with Athens Olympic 400m Hurdles semi-finalist Lashinda Demus to run to a comfortable 3:22.93 to 3:25.64 win over Russia.
Ross-Williams and Willis Named Top Collegians
Tiffany Ross-Williams of South Carolina was named the women’s athlete of the meet for relays and individual events and Nick Willis of Michigan won men’s relay athlete of the meet honors.
Ross-Williams ran on the Gamecocks winning shuttle hurdle and 4x400 relay that ran 3:28.00 for the No. 2 mark in meet history. She also won the 400 Hurdles in 55.70 to move into second on the all-time Penn list and placed second in the 100 Hurdles.
Willis helped Michigan to three relay wins, including a collegiate record of 16:04.54 in the 4x1 Mile with a 3:56.2 leg. The Michigan foursome of Willis, Andrew Ellerton, Mike Woods and Nate Brannen ran 16:04.54 eclipsed the previous standard of of 16:07.96, set by Arkansas at the 1999 Penn Relays.
Willis, a 2004 Olympic 1500m semi-finalist for New Zealand, also anchored the Wolverine’s distance medley relay with a 3:55.1 1,600m leg and ran the second leg of the 4x800m.
Vikas Gowda of North Carolina was selected as the individual events athlete of the meet with his victory in the discus at 61.98m.
Kirby Lee for the IAAF
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