PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—There had never been a 4xMile race at the Penn Relays which finished in under 16 minutes, meaning the equivalent of every runner on the relay running a sub-four minute mile. Saturday's annual Championship of America race at Franklin Field was so fast that not only did three teams break 16 minutes, winning the race very nearly required a world record performance. Villanova overtook Virginia in the final 50 meters and won its second Championship of America title in as many days with a historic and record-setting performance.
 
The winning team of Sean Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland), Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland), Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) and Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) own the second-fastest time in world history at 15:51.91 and they delivered the Wildcats second Championship of America title in this 128^th running  of the Penn Relays. Murphy also anchored Villanova's championship distance medley relay squad on Friday afternoon. Saturday's winning time in the 4xMile relay came within less than three seconds of the world standard while shattering the collegiate, Penn Relays and Franklin Field records. Wildcats head coach Marcus O'Sullivan was part of the world record team in the 4xMile relay on August 17, 1985 in Ireland.
 
"I knew that the race was going to go under 16 minutes but I didn't know it would go that far under 16 minutes," O'Sullivan said. "I had no idea [about the near-world record]. I didn't even look at the time that they ran. I thought with [Virginia anchor Gary Martin] they'll go under but maybe 3:56 or 3:57 for the anchor, not 3:54 and take it down near the world record."
 
The last 250 meters was a race for the ages pitting the same three anchor runners from Villanova, Virginia and Georgetown who duked it out until the finish line in the distance medley relay less than 24 hours earlier. Virginia anchor and Philadelphia-area native Gary Martin held the lead at the start of the bell lap and on the back straightaway with Murphy and Georgetown anchor Abel Teffra running single-file behind Martin on the rail.
 
Martin looked to be just slightly widening his lead going into the 200 meter turn, but Murphy closed that gap on the last turn with Teffra following. They went three wide coming into the final straightaway with Martin just off the rail, Murphy in the second lane and Teffra on his right hip. The straightaway proved to be the last bit of momentum Murphy needed, as he passed Martin with 50 meters left and was gaining steam all the way to the line. Villanova won with the No. 2 time in world history at 15:51.91, followed by Virginia in 15:52.30 and Georgetown in 15:52.56. The rest of the field of 11 teams was another 15 seconds off the pace.
 
"I always say that this meet is a stomping ground for developing character and personality," O'Sullivan said. "There's no question if I'm going to put someone on the 4xMile as a leadoff it's going to be Sean Donoghue. He's physical and he's a racer. Some guys need room, so you go through that and then in the middle legs you need time trailers who can run from the front and can sustain the pace. That's your Marco and Charlie, and then you've got your finishers.
 
"The thing I didn't see today was the determination by Gary Martin that when he got the baton he was going to go point to point. It was the kind of race that if you want it, you're going to have to really want it. Gary is strong but I look at Liam being a top-15 national finisher in cross country. That is a huge merit badge to be wearing because it means you are physically strong. I think that was kind of the difference where [Liam] was able to get by him."
 
This is the 104^th Championship of America title for the Wildcats, including their 22^nd in the 4xMile relay or its predecessor when the race was a 4x1500 meter championship. Murphy was named the College Men's Athlete of the Meet after his two winning anchor legs. He has now anchored three career men's Championship of America winners, becoming the 14^th runner in program history to anchor at least that many wins. The most recent before Murphy was John Marshall who anchored three championships between 1982-84, while Murphy is the first Villanova runner to anchor victories in the DMR and the 4xMile in the same year since Casey Comber in 2018.
 
O'Sullivan has been a part of 16 men's Championship of America relay titles at Villanova, including six that he won as an athlete during his own collegiate career and 10 relays teams he has coached. Three of the four runners on this year's 4xMile squad – Donoghue, O'Donovan and Murphy – ran the same legs for last year's Penn Relays championship team. Langon was the newcomer and helped the Wildcats win a title in his first-ever Championship of America relay race.
 
It wasn't until a few minutes after the race that O'Sullivan realized how close the athletes he coaches came to breaking a world record he set along with fellow Irishmen Eamonn Coghlan (himself a Villanova legend), Frank O'Mara and Ray Flynn in Dublin nearly 40 years ago.
 
The world record has stood the test of time while seldomly being threatened. In the nearly four decades since that race on August 17, 1985, only one relay team had even come within 10 seconds of the mark. That was a club team in Oregon just over two years ago who ran 15:52.05, but Murphy and company came even closer than that and got within 2.83 seconds of equaling the benchmark. As O'Sullivan watched his team nearly set a new world record, Flynn was also in Franklin Field on Saturday looking on from the infield with the same vested interest as O'Sullivan.
 
All four Villanova runners are already well-established sub-four minute milers during their collegiate careers. Donoghue led off Saturday's race in 3:59.32 and gave the baton to O'Donovan at the first exchange with the Wildcats in the middle of a crowded lead pack that included Virginia, Notre Dame and Georgetown among others.
 
O'Donovan recorded a split of 4:00.09 on a just-slightly slower second leg and Villanova was in the lead when Langon got the stick for his Championship of America debut. He reeled off a split of 3:58.18 and the race took shape with Virginia in the lead at the start of the anchor leg and the Wildcats just over a second off the pace.
 
It took a split of 3:54.32 from Murphy to secure the win, the fastest mile split in school history and more than a second faster than the previous Penn Relays record mile split of 3:55.6 set by an Arkansas runner in 1999 (Teffra from Georgetown had a split of 3:54.26 on Saturday's anchor leg).