Penn Relays: Women's results and splits

Being an older coach gives you the benefit of having a lot of stories to tell. If you are honest and have a good memory, most of them are actually true stories! And so the story went like this, last week at practice, about a steeplechase racer long ago at Penn Relays (who now happens to coach track at Vassar College): “Oh man. Justin Harris. He was in great shape. Great shape! But his form on this night. Bad. Oh so bad! Two-footed landings in the water. Ugly. But man, he ran tough and hard between the barriers. Surging each one. Boom. School record. 9:09. Moral of the story: A great steeple doesn’t have to be pretty; it has to be tough.” Fast forward to 2018. Jordan Casey. Penn Relays steeple. Jordan is in great shape. She’s a very proficient hurdler. But the Penn race is a battle. Her form suffered. It wasn’t as ugly at Jut’s long-ago race, but it wasn’t as pretty and efficient as even her most recent steeple, in the oddly stifling heat at Bucknell two weeks ago. She battled. She grinded it out between the barriers, which weren’t pretty. And oh man, she had a marvelous kick. And voila! A PR time by nearly 13 seconds and the coveted ECAC qualifier. She was pumped after the race, and so was Coach Chuck (as you can SEE)! Very thrilled for her. Freshman Hayley Collins battled gamely in the 5,000, hung tough for a strong outdoor PR. And earlier in the day – way earlier, like at 9:50 a.m.! – Coach Terry Horton brought Debbie Boerke down for the 400-meter hurdle race. It wasn’t a great time for her, but as Terry said, 62.88 as an off day is pretty good.

Penn Relays

Thursday, April 26

Women’s results and splits

3,000-meter steeplechase

22. Jordan Casey 10:51.90 *ECAC qualifier

Splits from finish line

47, 2:09 (83), 85.5, 87.6, 88.6, 88.8, 88.3, 83.3 (10;51.90)

5,000-meter run

39. Hayley Collins 17:17.28

Splits from the finish line (a poor job by the old coach!)

39.4, -- -- (missed splits, sorry), 4:05, 6:06 (81), 7:27 (81), 8:50 (83), 10:14 (84), 11:38 (84), 13:02 (84), 14:28 (86), 15:54 (86), 17:17.28 (83.28)

400-meter hurdles

20. Debbie Boerke 1:02.88 *ECAC qualifier