Penn Relays

Thursday is the first full day of competition at the 113th Penn Relay Carnival (a.k.a., "The Penn Relays"), held at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

According to the official meet website, "...this year there will be more than 22,000 entries, about half of whom will be high schoolers, and the three-day attendance is likely to top 100,000 for the third year in a row. Saturday attendance has averaged 45,000 for the last six years, and makes the meet the best attended track event in the United States each year, and one of the best attended in the world... more athletes have run at the Penn Relays than at any single meet in the world. More spectators have watched the meet than any in the world except the Olympics and World Championships..."

For Massachusetts H.S. teams, the Penn Relays often conflicts with the MIAA State Relays, which are frequently held on the same weekend, not to mention dual meets before and after. Even so, each year several Mass. schools travel to Philadelphia to participate in this unforgettable meet. Some schools try to double, running an event at Penn on Thursday or Friday and returning for the State Relays on Saturday.

That's what Newton North did in 2005, with four athletes running (and winning) the H.S. Championship of America Distance medley at Penn on Friday, and then returning to run multiple events at the State Relays on Saturday.

As far as i know, only one Newton North athlete is making the trip to Penn this year: David Smith is seeded 11th in the shot put, which is scheduled to go off at 2:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Also from Mass., Brookline (seeded at 10:24) and Xaverian (seeded at 10:20) are sending boys teams to compete in the Distance Medley. Good luck to both teams, but especially to Brookline. Wouldn't it be amazing to see the Bay State take another title? State indoor champions Lexington H.S. has a team entered in the boys 4x400 relay. Lincoln-Sudbury is sending a girls team to compete in the 4x800, which is especially tough because it involves a qualifying round on Thursday just to make it to the finals on Friday. Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) is entered in the girls 4x400 and 4x100. Easthampton also has a team in the girls 4x100.

And of course there is the collegiate and open competition. I've been trying to find out whether any NN alumni are entered in collegiate events, but haven't confirmed any so far. perhaps my readers can help out...