Villanova men capture 4-by-mile at Penn Relays

In the 121-year history of the Penn Relays Carnival, there couldn't have been a stranger race than the one a Franklin Field crowd of 48,920 witnessed Saturday on the anchor leg of the men's 4-by-mile Championship of America.

Villanova won the event as Jordy Williamsz outsprinted Oregon's Edward Cheserek to the line, turning the tables on Cheserek's sizzling finish the previous day on the Ducks' winning distance-medley relay. But the pace of the final leg won't be found on a tape of track's greatest hits any time soon.

After getting the baton at the same time, the two runners trudged through an extremely dawdling first 500 meters as three teams caught up to them. Then Cheserek slowed the pace literally to a crawl, but none of the other four runners wanted to pass him.

More teams caught up and turned a two-man duel into a 10-man free-for-all. Wisconsin, which began the anchor leg well back in ninth place, actually held the lead for a few seconds on the final lap before Cheserek and Williamsz left the field in the dust.

This time, it was Williamsz going in front with 100 meters left, then looking around to make sure he had defeated the all-American for the first time. The winning time was 16 minutes, 18.07 seconds, a time not even in the Penn Relays top 10.

But it didn't matter. Winning the 4-by-mile or its equivalent, the 4x1,500, for the first time since 1993, the Wildcats had another coveted Penn Relays title for their collection.

Villanova coach Marcus O'Sullivan, who has competed in hundreds of mile runs in his career, said he had seen a slowdown before.

"Just from my experience, why it happens is that while you're racing, you get so anxious that everything shuts down," he said. "Everyone is working for that last lap."

Williamsz, who got the baton after terrific legs from teammates Sam McEntee, Rob Denault, and Patrick Tiernan, said that slowing down the race benefited him.

"He put the brakes on, and the longer it stayed slow like that, the better it is for me," he said. "I was trying to stay relaxed. I tried to stay as patient as I could."

The Villanova women's 4x800-meter relay team picked up the Wildcats' fourth carnival championship of the weekend. Angel Piccirillo ran a 2:04.28 anchor leg behind Kelsey Margey, Stephanie Schappert, and Siofra Cleirigh Buttner to give her team a 20-meter win in 8:26.36.

"I just saw all my teammates working hard," Piccirillo said. "It was a supercompetitive race, but I knew I wanted get the stick, and we wanted to win really bad. This was my first time anchoring at Penn."

The Wildcats almost made it five championships, but anchor Dusty Solis was chased down in the final stages of the men's 4x800 by Georgia Tech, which won a race other than a 4x400 for the first time at Penn. The Yellow Jackets edged Georgetown in 7:18.84.

The University of Technology captured the 4x100 (39.27 seconds) and 4x200 (1:20.97) relays but was thwarted in its bid for a sprint triple by Louisiana State, which won the 4x400 in 3:02.61. The UTech women took first place in the 4x200 in 1:30.80.

The Texas women, who set a carnival record in last year's 4x400, did not threaten the mark but had more than enough speed to repeat their victory in 3:29.46.

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