April 26, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - On the final day of competition at the 114th running of the Penn Relays held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the Villanova men's 4x800 meter relay team placed seventh in the Championship of America race. The Wildcat team of senior Bobby Curtis, senior Michael Kerrigan, senior Mark Korich and freshman Carl Mackenzie posted a time of 7:28.91. Texas captured the race in 7:23.51 with LSU a close second in 7:24.42.
Curtis ran the opening leg for the Wildcats and was timed in 1:52.2. After a slow start that saw Curtis near the back of the field for the first 400 meters, he ran an outstanding second 400 meters and gave the baton to Kerrigan in a tie for first. Kerrigan was timed in 1:52.7 and finished his leg just one second off of the leaders in third position. Korich maintained Villanova's third place standing and was clocked in 1:52.0.
Mackenzie, who was running in his first Penn Relays in front of 49,000 spectators, got off to a bad start on the anchor leg. He and Korich had trouble with the baton handoff and the poor exchange moved the Wildcats from fourth place to sixth just 10 meters into the last leg. Mackenzie turned in a split of 1:52.0 as the 'Cats tallied a seventh place finish.
The Villanova Wildcats will return to the track next weekend when they compete in the Big East Conference Outdoor Championships to be held at Villanova Stadium from May 2-4.
