Penn Relays Men's 4 x 400 Pitt 1st place finish !!!

[JohnCPitt]

Brycen Spratling

Anchor - Pitt
"I just knew I had to - I knew all the anchor legs were the fastest and I knew I had to come out there and ran faster than I ever have." "I think the crowd brought me through it." "It feels great. We talked about it in the beginning of the year (75 years since last Pitt 4x400 win at Penn), about how nice it would be if we could win it for these guys out here." "I'm happy I could do it for these guys."
Micah Murray

1st Leg - PittsburghCM 4X400 COA
"It's always my goal to get our team in great position. So that's all I was thinking about, catch the guys and the outside lanes, and hand the baton off." "I knew we had it once we got in first. I knew we were going to stay in first." "It's amazing, it means we go down in history. We're part of the history books. It was a historical moment and I'm just glad to be a part of it. "I love it. God has blessed us with many opportunities and great meets but this is one of the best."

http://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/results.aspx?en=497

 

[Gregpitt]

They ran 4:03...many may not understand how fast this is for a college team. This is 45.75 per man! We were the only Northern team and won! Great job by Pitt (not to mention the school record for the 4x200.

 

[JohnCPitt]

Originally posted by Gregpitt:
They ran 4:03...many may not understand how fast this is for a college team. This is 45.75 per man! We were the only Northern team and won! Great job by Pitt (not to mention the school record for the 4x200.

Typo by Greg in all his excitement, Time was 3:03:44, Put it this way

USA Mens Olympic relay team ran 3:03:31 today(worst exchange ever on anchor leg) , Pitt would have finished 3rd in the Olympic relay that was held earlier today. They had a better time, than Brazil, Jamaica and Nigeria teams.

This post was edited on 4/26 9:42 PM by JohnCPitt

This post was edited on 4/26 9:49 PM by JohnCPitt

 

[goalieman]

Originally posted by JohnCPitt:

Originally posted by Gregpitt:
They ran 4:03...many may not understand how fast this is for a college team. This is 45.75 per man! We were the only Northern team and won! Great job by Pitt (not to mention the school record for the 4x200.

Typo by Greg in all his excitement, Time was 3:03:44, Put it this way

USA Mens Olympic relay team ran 3:03:31 today(worst exchange ever on anchor leg) , Pitt would have finished 3rd in the Olympic relay that was held earlier today. They had a better time, than Brazil, Jamaica and Nigeria teams.

This post was edited on 4/26 9:42 PM by JohnCPitt
This post was edited on 4/26 9:49 PM by JohnCPitt

WOW !!!! ... pretty AMAZING !!!!! .... congratulations to the relay team !!!!!!

 

[Gregpitt]

Thanks for the catch on my typo...I did the same thing on FB....ugh dyslexia. So YES 3:03.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Photo gallery

For people that don't know, winning an event at Penn Relays, especially what is considered by many the premiere relay, is just about as huge as you can get outside winning the NCAA Championship for a college. It's also is probably the biggest crowd any T&F athlete will ever perform in front of, at least on Saturday, which also has several USA vs the World where professional T&F Olympic type athletes compete....for instance, Michael Johnson ran in the 4X400 of the USA vs the World.


Story: http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/c-track/recaps/042614aaa.html
Photo Gallery: http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/view.gal?id=159817

It's nice to see Herb Douglas and Steve Pederson made the trip and that Pitt represented. I wonder if Pitt got around to having its flag flown in the stadium....a pet peeve of mine that they never did when I lived in Philly.

And I've seen in more crowded than that. For the major races, there isn't a seat available.

The trophies are distinct, huge, and prestigious.

 

[JohnCPitt]

Originally posted by Gregpitt:
Thanks for the catch on my typo...I did the same thing on FB....ugh dyslexia. So YES 3:03.

NP, I checked the results from the Drake Relays, Arkansas won that meet, but was .5 second slower than Pitt.
I also looked at the USA Track & Field web site and only Florida, LSU and Texas A&M have faster times this year.

I'm thinking Pitt is going to do pretty well in this event at the NCAA championships, same thing for Brycen Spratling in the 400m and Carvin Nkanata in the 200m (they both have some of the best times in the 400m and 200m this year)

NCAA Track and field championships June 11th - 14th in Eugene, Oregon (will be Televised on ESPN, ESPNU and/or ESPN2)

 

[Gregpitt]

Re: Photo gallery

When I was running at the Penn Relays (for Pitt) we were in the Championship 4x800 and as you say Paco, the place is packed. Anyway, I am running around the back turn and the crowd is so loud...a carnival atmosphere and I hear out of all this noise "Let's go Conover". As I am running I am wondering who was that who knows my name?

I ran the 2nd leg and I got the stick towards the back of the pack with a runner from Villanova - he was the world leader in the 1500 and mile from Ireland. I then hear the loud speaker saying, "and look at Marcus O'Sullivan from Villanova catch everyone as he moves toward the lead". Well I was ticked and thought to myself, "what about me?" because was running right with him and they said nothing so I ran like never before and handed to stick off in 1st place.

My big "claim to fame" was I out ran the world leader in the mile in this race! The rest is history as he went onto the Olympics and I did not...LOL

I also saw Reynaldo Nehemiah run the fastest 200 meters ever recorded in a 4x200 race.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Re: Photo gallery

That's a great story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[singregardless]

I went on Friday, just because it seemed weird to not see Brycen & Carvin run live before they leave.

Obviously very special, talented kids. Got to interact with Brycen VERY briefly & he was gracious about it. The 1936 Pitt men's 4x800 group was inducted on the Penn Relays Wall of Fame, Coach Webb was an honorary ref, and there was a lot of love given to Trecia Kaye-Smith in the back of the program for her performances at Pitt & in high school (she won Penn Relays stuff in HS, which I didn't know before then).

Both Woodruff & Smith had pictures in the program. Saw many flags, but no Pitt flag, regrettably.