Men’s 4 x 400 Relay: USA vs. The World

The United States has arguably the top eight one lap runners in the world, and it showed at the Penn Relays at the US fielded two all-star teams. The USA Blue team had LaShawn Merritt, Wallace Spearmon, Darold Williamson, and Jeremy Wariner. However, the USA Red team extremely good as well, with Xavier Carter, Bershawn Jackson, Kerron Clement, and Angelo Taylor.

Merritt blasted out the hole with a 44.9 leg to give the Blue team the lead. A strong second leg by Bershawn Jackson put the Red team close again with Jamaica just back in third.

The most exciting part of the race was on the third leg as Kerron Clement tried to pass veteran relay runner Darold “D Will” Williamson. Clement couldn’t seal the deal. Williamson made him swing wide and then rolled pass Clement to hand off to Jeremy Wariner in the lead. Wariner ran an unconscious 43.88 anchor leg with a comfortable lead to secure victory for the Blue team at 2:59.71. A stupid time ran in the cold April air!

Click here for the final results.

By Jay Hicks, a.k.a. Track Evangelist.

Men’s 4 x 100: USA vs. The World

The men’s relay pool at Penn Relays is a preview of the Olympic Games. The race included national teams from the United States, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, and Great Britain.

The historical relay woes continued for the U.S. as the heavily favored Team Red in Lane 7 had a disastrous hand off between Leroy Dixon and Wallace Spearmon. It appeared that Dixon was hit in the face near the exchange. Spearmon was poised and slowed to get the stick before handing off to Tyson Gay. Gay was able to bring the Red team to fourth place in 39.38.

Team Blue made up of John Capel, Xavier Carter, Michael Rodgers, and anchored by Shawn Crawford placed second in 39.14.

The Jamaican’s won in 39.04, without 100 world record holder Asafa Powell. The Jamaican national team passed the stick along very well in their victory in front of an estimated 10,000 Jamaican fans.

Click here to view the final results.

By Jay Hicks, a.k.a. Track Evangelist.

Women’s 4 x 100: USA vs. The World

There was a lot riding on the women’s relay competition today at Penn Relays. The relay pool members are preparing to compete for six relay spots on the women’s Olympic team. The match up between Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards realized at anchor leg. Sanya Richards had a slight lead at the hand off. However, Allyson Felix over powered Richards down the homestretch to win the race to led USA Red to victory in 42.57. Richards led USA Blue to a second place finish in 42.64. Jamaica was third in 43.31.

For the Red, it was Lauryn Williams, Miki Barber, Lisa Barber, and Felix. The USA Blue’s line-up was Muna Lee, Torri Edwards, Carmelita Jeter, and Richards.

Click here for the final results.

By Jay Hicks, a.k.a. Track Evangelist.