April 26, 1997
PHILADELPHIA -- For the fourth time in history, and third time in the 1990s, the Villanova women have recorded victories in every distance relay event entered at the annual Penn Relay Carnival. On Saturday, April 26, the Wildcats finished their sweep with an exciting win in the 4x800-meter relay in a time of 8:27.64.
Villanova jumped out to an early lead when leadoff runner Jurga Marcinkevicuite, only a sophomore, ran an unofficial split of 2:06.5. Freshman Tamieka Grizzle came out strong in the second leg, running the best split of the afternoon (2:04.7), but Georgetown closed the gap on the third portion of the race. Freshman Carmen Douma of Villanova held on, but the lead closed as the anchors took the batons. Georgetown All-American Miesha Marzell immediately put distance between herself and the Wildcats' Krestena Sullivan, but Sullivan did not give up. On the last turn, the Villanova senior kicked, and passed Marzell down the stretch to lead the Wildcats to their third win in three days. Sullivan's unofficial time was 2:04.9.
Villanova won the distance medley relay on Thursday, the 4x1500-meter relay on Friday, and the 4x800-meter relay on Saturday. Other Wildcat Penn Relay sweeps occurred in 1989, 1990, and 1995. Sullivan earned her sixth career Penn Relay Championship of America title, joining the ranks of former Wildcat greats Vicki Huber and Sonia O'Sullivan.
"Winning is contagious," said head coach John Marshall. "I thought if we won the DMR, we would have a good chance to win three, but the 4x800 was definitely our toughest challenge. Georgetown looked better than us on paper, but we always believed we could win. It took a lot of blood and guts to get this win, and these young ladies left it all on the track."
