PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—As the sun sets on the 128
th running of the Penn Relays on Saturday evening, the last collegiate women's race of the weekend will feature an upstart Villanova women's 4x400 meter relay team. A quartet of sophomore
Myonica Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill.), fifth year collegian
Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio), first year runner
Olivia Allen (Kingwood, Texas) and sophomore
Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) recorded the fastest qualifying time in the Eastern section heats of the relay on Friday night to advance into Saturday's section final.
Their race was a fun one to watch as the Wildcats pulled away from the rest of the field and cruised to a time of 3:45.05. Jackson was the lone member of the Villanova lineup running on fresh legs. Martinez, Allen and Trusty ran hard legs of the Championship of America distance medley relay only hours earlier, while Allen also competed in the individual 400 meter hurdles on Thursday evening. These are the races that give so much to the Penn Relays experience, the chance for a group of athletes to step onto the Franklin Field track one more time and to do so representing their school in a meet where each race is its own unique spectacle.
It was a wire-to-wire win for the Wildcats in the Eastern heats, with Jackson leading off and Martinez following as Villanova built a nearly three-second margin over Saint Joseph's and the rest of the field by the midpoint of the race. The gap more than tripled by the finish line after Allen ran a split of 56.37 on the third leg and Trusty closed with a 55.08 anchor leg.
Running the 4x400 relay this weekend is important competition for the Wildcats, as much for the experience of measuring up in a tightly-contested race on a big stage as it is for setting up the individual athletes for what is still to come on the collegiate calendar. All eyes are on Franklin Field this weekend for the world's oldest and largest track & field meet, but Villanova is also cognizant of BIG EAST competition on its home track in just two weeks and NCAA regional competition later next month.
The section final in the Eastern 4x400 meter relay is scheduled for 5:55 p.m. on Saturday evening.
