4x200 Relay Record Falls to Highlight Penn Relays

Thursday, April 23

Philadelphia, Pa.

All Day

James Madison University

Penn Relays

4/25/2015 5:51:00 PM | Track & Field

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – James Madison's 4x200-meter relay set a new school record in 1:37.95 in Saturday's ECAC flight to highlight three days of competition in the 121^st Penn Relays at historic Franklin Field.

"The meet itself was a great meet for us," Director of Track and Field Ta' Frias said. "We came out of the weekend with great races over the last three days. I think this meet allows us to compete in a more competitive and championship mindset. And that mindset has to be focused on going out to win.

On Friday, the team of sophomore De'Ana Forbes, senior Destiny Simmons, sophomore Annie Johnson and freshman Tyrah Burrow ran the 4x200-meter in 1:39.53 in heats to qualify for Saturday's ECAC top flight. The team then knocked off over a second and a half from its time to break the previous school mark of 1:38.04, which was set in 2012.

Frias commented, "Our goal for the 4x200 was to do well enough to qualify for the final and then go out today and break the school record. That's exactly what they did."

On the meet's first day on Thursday, sophomore Ebony Owusu-Sampah overcame poor conditions to finish second in a field of 53 competitors in the long jump with a leap of 5.92 meters. Frias said, "Ebony was in a field of really good ECAC, ACC and SEC talent. She went out there in the freezing cold in the 40s with on-and-off rain and had a really good jump."

In the Dukes' final event of the meet on Saturday, the 4x800-meter relay ran the ninth-best time in program history in 8:55.10. The relay team consisted of all seniors in Kristen Landry, Kelsey Langton, Morgan Sheaffer and Tiel Westbrook. Frias stated, "The 4x800 did a good job. They were competitive. Each leg was individually very competitive on its own"

On Thursday, the distance medley relay ran its best time of the season in 11:49.43. Freshman Erica Gray led off with 3:37.26 in the first 1,200 meters followed by Sheaffer with a 400 time of 58.77 seconds. Langton ran an 800-meter leg of 2:16.53 while sophomore Carol Strock closed the final 1,600 meters in 4:56.87. Frias said, "The DMR ran solidly. We were pleased with the teams they were beating. They beat out the poor conditions and competed extremely well."

The meet also included sophomore Morgan Crewe clearing 1.64 meters in the high jump and fellow sophomore Kennedy King covering 5.57 meters in the long jump. The 4x400-meter relay team of Johnson, Burrow, Forbes and Simmons ran in 3:55.20.

The caliber of the meet provided the perfect opportunity for the Dukes to prepare for next weekend's Colonial Athletic Association Championship meet, slated for Friday and Saturday in Williamsburg.

Frias added, "Any time you come out to a stadium like this where it is filled with lots of people cheering and can perform well, it's good heading into next weekend."