Penn Relays, Saturday results and atmosphere

First things first: Our men's 4x800 relay team placed 27th out of 33 teams entered in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 7:49.51. This time was well off our goal of an IC4A qualifying mark of sub-7:43.00. However, team captain Matt Panebianco accurately pointed out that this time would have represented a school record at the beginning of the 2012 outdoor season. So this relay has come a long way. Leadoff man Chris Vanzetta went out aggressively and had the lead after a lap. But about 100 meters into the second lap, he hit the inside rail, got tripped and never regained his momentum. His leadoff leg of 1:58.2 effectively ended our hopes of an IC4A qualifying mark. However, the rest of the relay did an excellent job of keeping us in the race and salvaging a passable overall time. Here are the numbers on the relay legs, courtesy of Coach Chuck's iPad split taking app:

Chris Vanzetta 1:58.2 (54.8 opening 400)
David Marthy 1:55.5 (55.5 opening 400)
Matt Panebianco 1:57.1 (56.5 opening 400)
Mark Vuono 1:58.5 (55.4 opening 400)

This was my first time at Penn Relays on Saturday. It is quite an atmosphere at Franklin Field, far different than the rather low-key Thursday Distance Night. The weather was perfectly splendid, brilliant sunshine and warm weather. Couldn't have been any better. Of specific note was the incredibly energetic crowd support for Team Jamaica. Wow! Jamaica fans were everywhere, in their brightly colored yellow shirts and pants. It was awesome.

Also, congrats to Emily Lipari of Villanova (brother of Marist Running Alum Tommy Lipari) for her incredible meet and winning the College Women's Athlete of the meet for relay events. Nicely done, Emily! It was great to see Tommy there; he was cheering on our relay from the upper deck, and Matty said he was the only one he heard while he was racing. At one point, Tom's dad called him on the cell phone and asked where he was. He screamed into the phone: "I'm with my team!" Yeah man. Once your team, always your team. Great stuff.

Next up: Yale meet on Sunday.