Below is an excerpt from the Lap Count newsletter, posted with permission. Kyle Merber’s Lap Count newsletter both entertains and enlightens fans about athletes and happenings in our sport.
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From the Lap Count Newsletter
It’s hard to ever truly call Villanova an underdog at the Penn Relays, but they certainly were not the favorites. The day before the Wildcats crossed the tape to win their 21st men’s 4 x mile title – yes, 21! – there was a difficult loss to process.
Liam Murphy was handed the baton in first in Friday’s DMR, hoping to anchor his squad to a 26th – yes, 26! – wheel in that event. With 200m to go things looked promising. He moved to the front and created a gap, but suddenly the finish was more distant than he banked on. Wisconsin swooped in as Adam Spencer found one more gear.
(Spoiler alert: It was a good weekend for Irish distance coaches as Marcus O’Sullivan, Mick Byrne, and Ray Treacy could have built a tricycle together.)
So what do you do when your anchor gets devastated on Friday? You let him learn from his mistakes on Saturday. (This happened to me my senior year after a disastrous DMR. The next day I ran a much better 4 x mile anchor but still finished second to my future roommate Donn Cabral. It was retroactively comforting to see him finish 8th at the Olympics that summer.)
The race had a collegiate record, sub-16 minute, and even world record potential. There’s a reason why Washington opted to tap four American milers for the task. As the leading third legs came through at 12:03, it was all right there. But then something predictable happened. After all, records can fall, but Penn Relays wheels are forever. They jogged.
With one lap to go, the announcer called it “slow, lazy running” which is a hilarious description of tactical racing, yet there were 10 teams in contention. And this time Liam waited and waited until he got it.
After the race, I spoke with Marcus O’Sullivan and asked him if he ever lobbies to have schools ensure that Penn is always on their meet schedule. He made a great point: most teams show up when they have special talents, but Villanova is always there.
It’s a shame that there is no distance-oriented relay at the outdoor NCAA outdoor championships. The DMR is always one of the most exciting races indoors, and it seems like there’d be a desire for that consistency in the outdoor season. That or another mixed-gender relay…
