DJ at Penn

Penn Relays Ten Years later –

So the last time I was at Penn there was nothing close to USA v. the World. The meet was still fighting the inclusion of professional events and things were contentious. I stood on the infield unable to see any of the actual races, so I have no recollection of what was happening. So there I was ten years removed and standing in the middle of the field again, but this time it was different…
USA v. The World is a lie. It is USA v Jamaica, period. The crowd is pro Jamaican from high school races through the pro ranks. And those JAM fans know it all, and come ready to scream, chant, holla, cheer and boo! And it is great. There is not another meet in the country you will hear U-S-A, U-S-A for some relays, for some high schoolers, and for something non-national team related. The decibel level will give you chills out there and if you cannot rise to the occasion for that then you do not have a pulse. The best time in the stadium is when the JAM teams win or challenge. The flags wave, the screams reach high, and everybody stands up. The DMR probably brought out the biggest roar of all, it was fun.

The action got started Friday actually. David Oliver, Aries Merritt, Aubrey Herring, and Joel Brown set a World’s Best in the shuttle hurdles. I was unable to make it out to see it but any time you can set a world record it is special. I was a little miffed because they wanted 2 teams and were a man short but never called me to ask for Ryan to come, I will ask some questions about that, sounds like a c-o-n-spriacy to me. Lol There was an Olympic development women’s 4x100, but no one was pleased with the race or how the meet handled it. They tried to get the young ladies in the invitational on Saturday but after drawing lane one it was thought a waste of time. Good call JD!
If David Oliver’s shoulders get any bigger they will fall off!
Saturday proved to be fun!
David Neville ran on the DMR, split 45.5 with a 20 meter lead. His anchor leg cost him some money when he gave up the lead in 200 meters.
The 4x100 produced the strangest event ever. Leroy Dixon was on first leg and came around the bend, as soon as he hit the mark for Wallace, the Canadian second leg went to take off and slapped Leroy in the eye, stopping him cold, some how he managed to complete the pass but the race was over by that time for the team. They finished fourth but should have won. Kudos to the other USA team who almost pulled off the victory from lane 2, chasing JAM to the wire.
The women were the show. The teams were evenly matched and it came down to a dream scenario, Allyson Felix v. Sanya Richards on the anchor. The ladies received the baton at the same time and the race was on. Allyson smoothly pulled away to win by a meter.
The 4x400 were full of names and looked to find some drama as the 2 US anchors received the sticks less than a meter apart. However, Jeremy is an alien and made 43 look like a walk in the park putting 5 meters on Angelo without taking a deep breath. An alien I am telling you. He wears those glasses so you can’t see his eyes glowing when he taps into his alien powers! He has it mastered and it is nice to see.
The women’s 4x4 saw Allyson and Sanya on the same team and the result showed it.

Now I am in Guadeloupe. Time for the season to start…