Penn Relays a Success for Cougars

PHILADELPHIA -- Several BYU relay teams competed at the annual and prestigious Penn Relays beginning on Thursday and finishing on Saturday, representing the program by finishing in the top five in each event.

Competing in the top division at the meet, the men’s distance medley relay team, including senior Brian Weirich, sophomore Cade Lindahl and juniors Justin Hedin and Miles Batty, finished in third place overall with a time of 9:38.60. Lindahl ran one of the fastest 400m splits in the competition, clocking a 46.40. Batty also notched one of the top mile splits at 4:01.34.

Hedin, Weirich and Batty added in senior James Heiner for the 4x800 and finished in fifth place with a time of 7:20.81.

The men’s 4x400m team qualified on Friday for the college finals with sophomore Sean Adams, juniors Steven Hart and Chris Carter and sophomore James Derek McAllister finishing in 3:14.26. In the finals on Saturday the team improved by nearly five seconds, finishing seventh in 3:09.56.

The same team (Adams, Hart, Carter, McAllister) also ran the 4x200 relay, finishing in 30th overall with a time of 1:28.75.

Head coach Patrick Shane and the women’s team began competition on Thursday with the distance medley relay, placing fifth in 11:07.22. Senior Porshe Giddings ran the second-fastest 400m split in the event, clocking in at 52.59. Competing alongside Giddings in the event were juniors Lacey Bleazard and Katie Palmer, along with senior Kari Hardt.

On Saturday the team of Bleazard, Palmer, Sarah Edwards and Nicole Clark competed in the 4x800m Championship of America, finishing fourth in 8:31.59. Palmer ran the fastest split of the group, completing her leg of the race in 2:03.35.

The lone individual to compete for BYU at the Penn Relays was Hardt. Hardt competed in the 3000m steeplechase on Thursday evening, finishing the event in seventh with a time of 10:28.77.

BYU track and field will continue the season next Wednesday as they host the BYU Twilight Meet at the Clarence Robison Track and Field Complex.