April 28, 2000
PHILADELPHIA, PA.--- On Friday, April 28, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the Villanova University women's relay team of Liz Awtrey, Carrie Tollefson, Kristen Nicolini and Carmen Douma won the 4x1500m relay title, giving the Wildcats eight victories in the last 11 years in that event.
Awtrey posted a split of 4:25.36 in the first leg of the 4x1500, and handed Tollefson the baton with Villanova 50 meters back. Tollefson made up tremendous ground with a split of 4:16.00, and gave Nicolini the baton for the third leg with the Wildcats owning a 25 meter lead. Heading into the final leg, Douma found herself five meters behind Arkansas in second place. Douma wasted no time putting it into cruise control, as she and the `Cats coasted to victory in a time of 17:30.38. Arkansas finished in second place with a mark of 17:37.11.
In addition to it being Villanova's eighth 4x1500m relay title in the last 11 years, it is also the 22nd win in that event for the Wildcats in the 36 years in which they have competed. The women's relay team will resume competition on Saturday, April 29, competing in the DMR at 1:40 p.m.
Villanova began competition in the 106th running of the Penn Relays on Thursday, April 27. In addition to Friday's 4x1500m relay championship, the Wildcats have also had a number of other bright spots through the first one and a half days of competition, led by a second place finish by junior Ann McGranahan in the 5,000m run on Thursday evening.
Villanova opened the Penn Relays Thursday morning, as Sarah Hunt, Melinda Boykin and Christine Heffernan took part in the women's discus. Hunt was the `Cats' top finisher, placing fifth with a throw of 45.42 (149-00). Boykin and Heffernan ended the event in 18th and 19th place with throws of 34.58 (113-05) and 34.34 (112-08) respectively.
Boykin and Heffernan got back into action Thursday afternoon in the eastern qualifying of the women's shot put. Boykin finished 13th with a mark of 12.59 (41-03.75), while Heffernan did not measure. In the hammer throw preliminaries, Hunt placed in 10th position with a throw of 47.66 (156-04).
Winding down the first day of competition on Thursday, McGranahan took part in the championship of the 5,000m run. She finished in second place, crossing the finish line in 16:08.94. Maria Elena Calle of Virginia Commonwealth won the event with a time of 16:06.03.
Starting off day two of the Penn Relays for the Wildcats was junior Marlena Robinson in the triple jump easterns. With a leap of 11.97 (39-03.25), Robinson finished in the sixth spot. In the men's 4x100 heats on Friday afternoon, Villanova's team of Dashan Sanders, Brian Powell, Antoine Johnson and Darnell Greene placed second in their heat with a time of 42.25.
Later in the afternoon, the Wildcats' DMR team of Paul Carroll, Maulan Byron, Brian Anderson and Tom Parlapiano finished 11th, posting a time of 9:47.25. The University of Connecticut won the event with a mark of 9:33.02.
Villanova will resume competition later in the afternoon on Friday, competing in the women's 4x1500m relay, the men's long jump, the women's 100m hurdles and the men's 4x400m relay.
