Below is an excerpt from the Fast Women newsletter, posted with permission. Fast Women produces a high-quality, weekly newsletter, focused on women’s track & field, with an emphasis on distance running and women’s voices.
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From the Fast Women Newsletter
Penn Relays Highlights – Athing Mu & 4×1500
ATHING MU WINS PENN RELAYS SHOWDOWN
Athing Mu had already raced a handful of times during the outdoor season, but Saturday at the Penn Relays was her first race against btop pro competition, and she came through with her best race of the year. Mu sat on Ajee’ Wilson’s shoulder for about 450m and then took off and won in 1:22.74, which puts her fourth on the world all-time list. The event isn’t run often, especially outdoors, but the women around her on the list are a who’s who of middle-distance running.
Jamaica’s Natoya Goule moved up to take second (1:24.09). Running at her alma mater, Nia Akins did a good job of putting herself in the mix and finished third (1:25.14). High schooler Sophia Gorriaran, 16, started off in last place but worked her way up to take fourth in 1:25.22. Wilson lost some ground in the closing stages and finished sixth (1:25.87). (Results)
ARKANSAS WINS THRILLING BATTLE FOR THE 4X1500 COLLEGIATE RECORD
The lineups: Arkansas: Isabel Van Camp, Logan Jolly, Lauren Gregory, and Krissy Gear vs. NC State: Anna Vess, Sam Bush, Savannah Shaw, and Katelyn Tuohy
As the longest event at Penn Relays, the 4x1500m is rarely the glory event, but Arkansas and NC State had a memorable back-and-forth battle on Saturday afternoon that resulted in both teams destroying the previous collegiate record. Gregory handed off to Gear with a several second lead over Tuohy. Tuohy managed to reel Gear back in, but with just over 200m to go, Gear drew even with Tuohy, then made the pass and held her lead all the way to the finish. Arkansas finished in 16:53.87 (about 4:13.5/leg) to NC State’s 16:55.19. Tennessee previously held the record of 17:08.34, set at Penn Relays in 2009.
I’m generally pretty ambivalent about betting on sports, but I felt more invested knowing that Arkansas alum Nikki Hiltz bet their hair that the Razorbacks would win. If you see NC State alum Elly Henes wearing a “wooo pig” shirt at the Track Meet next weekend, that’s why.
BYU’s Lauren Ellsworth, Alena Ellsworth, Claire Seymour, and Courtney Wayment won the distance medley relay in 10:50.22, a strong run but less dramatic, as they won by more than five seconds. Penn State and Ohio State had an excellent battle in the 4x800m with the Penn State team of Victoria Vanriele, Rachel Gearing, Madaline Ullom, and Victoria Tachinski edging Ohio State, 8:24.49 to 8:25.04, despite having to leave one of their best 800m runners, Allison Johnson, home due to injury. Most of all, it was nice to have Penn Relays back after two years off due to the pandemic.
