April 26, 2001

Philadelphia, PA - On Thursday, April 26, the Villanova Wildcat women's distance medley relay team, comprised of freshmen Rebecca Mitchell (Geneva, Ill./Geneva), Melanie Rhoden (Ewing, NJ/Ewing), Renee Gunning (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge), and sophomore Liz Awtrey (Burke, VA/Robinson Secondary), posted a time of 11:28.04 in the Jim Tuppeny DMR, placing seventh. Rhoden also participated in the 400-meter hurdles in the first full day of action at the 107th running of the Penn Relays, placing 39th with a time of 1:03.12.

Prior to the start of the Women's Distance Medley Relay, the Penn Relays honored Villanova long-time assistant coach Jim Tuppeny, who passed away on November 29, 2000, by changing the name of the event in his honor to the Jim Tuppeny Women's Distance Medley Relay. The event consists of four legs, leg one 1200-meters, leg two 400-meters, leg three 800 meters, and leg four 1600-meters.

Mitchell started things off for Villanova posting a time of 3:29.5 in the lead off 1200-meter leg. Rhoden circled the 400-meter track in 56.9 seconds and then handed off to Gunning in the 800-meter leg. Gunning finished the third leg in a time of 2:13.5 and then watched as Awtrey crossed the finish line with a time of 4:48.1 in the 1600-meter anchor leg. Villanova's time of 11:28.04 placed them seventh in the event. North Carolina won the event with a time of 11:03.2. Stanford placed second (11:15.07), Georgetown was third (11:18.39), Duke crossed in fourth (11:24.05), Texas A&M finished fifth (11:26.06), and Wake Forest placed sixth (11:26.22).

Villanova athletes will be in action all weekend at the 107th running of the Penn Relays. The schedule for Wildcat athletes is listed below:

THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2001
10:00 a.m.      	Women's 400 hurdles (Melanie Rhoden)
12:35 p.m.      	Women's DMR
1:45 p.m.       	Women's Shot Put (Melinda Boykin)
3:15 p.m.       	Women's Javelin (Christine Heffernan)
6:30 p.m.       	Men's 3,000m Steeplechase (Geoff Nickerson)
6:50 p.m.       	Women's 3,000 meter run (Carre Joyce)
7:25 p.m.       	Women's 5,000 meter run (Kara Kerr)
7:45 p.m.       	Men's 5,000 meter run (Ray Biersbach)
8:05 p.m.       	Men's 5,000 meter run (Pat Dunn)

FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2001
11:50 a.m.     	        Men's 4x100m Relay  heats
12:00 p.m.     	        Men's shot put (Mark Blattner)
12:30 p.m.      	Women's Triple Jump (Marlena Robinson)
12:40 p.m.      	Men's DMR
1:50 p.m.       	Women's 4x1500m relay
3:10 p.m.       	Men's 110m hurdle heats (Antoine Johnson)
3:20 p.m.       	Women's 100m hurdle heats (Charmaine Walker, Sherese Price)
4:55 p.m.       	Men's 4x400m relay

SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2001
9:10 a.m.       	Men's 400m hurdle finals (Mike Brown)
11:00 a.m.     	        Men's Javelin (Barry Flicker)
12:15 p.m.      	Men's hammer Throw (Mark Blattner)
12:40 p.m.      	Men's 4 x mile
3:35 p.m.       	Women's 100m hurdle finals
3:40 p.m.       	Men's 110m hurdle finals