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Track and Field at Penn Relays
APRIL 21, 1998
Thursday-Saturday, April 23-25, 1998
Looking at the Wildcats... It has been a season of highs and lows for the Wildcat track & field squad. Despite several outstanding individual performances, injury and illness have marred the 1997-98 season. Carrie Tolleson, a junior from Dawson, Minn., started off strong, dominating the cross country season with wins in all but one meet. She captured the Big East individual title, the NCAA Regional title, and capped that with the national championship at Furman after running a course-record 16:29. However, immediately following her spectacular fall, Tollefson was diagnosed with a serious heel injury and underwent surgery in January. She is currently undergoing rehabilitation and will redshirt the indoor and outdoor seasons in 1998. Fellow All-American Kristine Jost, winner of the national title in the 3000m in 1997, will also not be competing for head coach John Marshall at Penn. The junior suffered from illness during the cross country season, and then recently underwent knee surgery, so she has not seen serious action since her sophomore campaign. Without the services of these two All-Americans, both members of the 4x1500m relay last season, Marshall is faced with a tremendous challenge.
However, Marshall will have one of the nation's top 1500m runners at his disposal, sophomore Carmen Douma. Douma, a member of last year's 4x800m relay and 4x1500m relay Championship of America squads, is running better and better. Douma won the indoor national title in the mile in 1998 and earned All-America honors in cross country this season. Tamieka Grizzle is another returnee from last year's successful Penn Relays sweep. Grizzle, the nation's top 800m runner out of high school, posted an extremely successful freshman campaign a season ago when she earned All-America honors. The Bronx, N.Y., native, has had a difficult sophomore season, suffering an ankle injury that has put her back. However, she has run better of late, and could come on strong this weekend.
Several newcomers who could make an impact are Ann McGranahan, a freshman from Pensacola, Fla., who qualified for the indoor 5000m NCAA race. She, too, however, has also struggled with injury in her rookie campaign, redshirting the cross country season and pulling out of the NCAA competition. Kristen Nicolini is a newcomer to the Wildcat squad, transferring from Auburn University during the fall. She competed during the indoor season, and has proven to be a solid addition to the team. Leashia Rahr, a sophomore from Syracuse, N.Y., is Villanova's most consistent sprinter. She handled the 400-meter portion of the Wildcats' Big East indoor championship distance medley relay squad. The members of that team were Rahr, Nicolini, Douma, and Grizzle. Other possible relay contributors this week could be Lony'e Johnson, a sophomore from Wilmington, Del., and Geraldine McCarthy, a freshman from Listowel, Ireland.
Freshman Charmaine Walker is slated to compete in the open hurdles events, and has had an extremely successful rookie campaign. The Plainfield, N.J., native, won the Big East indoor title in the 55m hurdles and earned All-America honors in the event as well.
On the men's side, Marshall will depend on Dean Smith, a sophomore from Phoenix, Md., who has paced the Wildcats' in the 1500m event this season. Scott Tantino has also proven to be a valuable performer in the distance events, as well as Brock Butler. All three earned All-Big East honors at the league cross country meet this season. Sophomore Greg Young has been a consistent 800m performer for Marshall, and is complemented by Maulan Byron.
All-American Kareem Archer, a senior hurdler from Plainfield, N.J., will compete in the open hurdles. Archer has already qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400m hurdles this season, and will look to defend his two-straight Big East Outdoor Championships in the event this spring. He is currently ranked No. 2 in the country in the event.
In the field events, Wildcat newcomer Barry Flicker will compete in the javelin, while Steve Bienko will enter the discus competition.
Streaking at Penn... Villanova women's track & field team's 25 Penn Relay plaques are the most of any women's team in the history of the meet. The women have won 21 times in the last 10 years, capturing 21 of the 30 races they have entered. From 1987-95 the Villanova women won at least one Championship of America race. Overall, the women have captured seven of the last eight 4x1500m relay titles, seven of the last 10 4x800m titles and eight of the last 11 distance medley relay championships.
The Wildcat men won a Penn Relays Championship of America title in three-consecutive years from 1991-93), their longest winning streak since they went 28-consecutive years with at least one championship. That streak ended with three wins in 1982.
Recap of last year...
WILDCAT WOMEN EARN FOURTH PENN RELAYS SWEEP
For the fourth time in history, and the third time in the decade of the '90s, the Villanova women's track & field team earned three Championship of America titles at the Penn Relays. The Wildcat women posted first-place finishes in the distance medley relay, the 4x1500-meter relay, and the 4x800-meter relay at the 103rd Penn Relay Carnival held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on April 24-26, 1997.
The Wildcats began in fine fashion, capturing the DMR title in a run of 10:57.97 on April 24. Jurga Marcinkevicuite (So., Vilnius, Lithuania) ran the leadoff leg, followed by Kesha Walley (Sr., Yeardon, Pa.), who put in a strong showing during the 400-meter portion of the race. Tamieka Grizzle (Fr., Bronx, N.Y.) sped through her 800-meter leg, and Krestena Sullivan (Sr., Kitchener, Ontario) anchored the first of three races for the Wildcats.
On Friday, the Wildcats next took the 4x1500-meter relay in a landslide (17:29.32). The foursome of Carmen Douma (Fr., Cambridge, Ontario), Kristine Jost (So., Baltimore, Md.), Carrie Tollefson (So., Dawson, Minn.), and Sullivan brought home the title. Tollefson ran the most impressive relay leg of her young career, running by the competition and giving Sullivan the baton with a 30-meter lead.
Entering the Penn Relays, head coach John Marshall had said, "If we win the DMR, we've got a great chance to win three." His statement came true on Saturday, as the Wildcats earned a sweep with their most exciting win of the Carnival in the 4x800-meter relay. Villanova won with a time of 8:27.66, but it was not without heroics from its senior anchor, Sullivan. Marcinkeviciute and Grizzle ran the first two legs, with Douma holding her own on the third. As soon as Sullivan took the baton, however, she was passed by Georgetown All-American Miesha Marzell. For most of the two laps, Marzell kept the lead, but on the last turn, Sullivan kicked and took the lead. She crossed the finish line with a smile on her face.
"Winning is contagious," Marshall said. "The 4x800 was definitely our toughest challenge, but we never thought we could lose. Georgetown looked better on paper, but we believed in ourselves. It took a lot of blood and guts to get this win, and these young ladies left it all out on the track."
Other Penn Relay sweeps for Villanova occurred in 1989, 1990 and 1995. Sullivan, meanwhile, was named Most Outstanding Performer of the meet, and earned her sixth career Penn Relay Championship of America title. She joined the ranks of former Wildcat greats Vicki Huber and Sonia O'Sullivan.
There were other impressive performances at the Relays as well. The Wildcat women's 4x400-meter relay team set a new ECAC record at Penn with a run of 3:37.76 in the championship on April 26. The record-setting foursome was comprised of Kia Davis (Jr., Chester, Pa.), Leashia Rahr (Fr., Syracuse, N.Y.), Walley, and Grizzle. In addition, the men's team had a strong performance as well in the distance medley relay with a fourth-place finish in 9:35.77. Richard Morris (So., Jackson, N.J.), J.R. McIlwain (Sr., Yardley, Pa.), Brian Lucas (Jr., Scarborough, Ontario) and Stephen Howard (Sr., Sheffield, England) ran on that impressive relay.
1998 Penn Relay Lineup...
THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1998
Time Event Tentative Entry
12:35 p.m. Women's 4x800m Championship Johnson, Douma
Nicolini, Grizzle
3:15 p.m. Women's Hammer Throw Hunt
Head Coach John Marshall... Wildcat head coach John Marshall, now in his fourth year at the helm, has quickly established himself as one of the top college cross country and track and field coaches in the nation. Under his guidance, the Wildcats have run to six top 10 team finishes. Marshall coached the Wildcats to the 1994 NCAA Women's Cross Country title and a runner-up finish in 1996. Marshall has been a mentor to six individual national champions and one relay national champion, while his women's track & field teams have registered three consecutive top-10 finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
During the 1997 indoor and outdoor seasons, Marshall guided the Villanova women's team both Big East titles, while his coaching staff was honored as Big East Women's Coaching Staff of the Year.
At the Penn Relays, Marshall's teams have experienced their share of success. In both 1995and 1997, his women's teams won three Championship of America titles, boasting titles in the distance medley relay, 4x1500m and 4x800m. Prior to his appointment as head coach on June 30, 1994, Marshall spent two seasons as a Wildcat assistant coach. As an assistant, his primary responsibilities were in the coaching and development of the sprinters and middle-distance runners.
A 1985 graduate of Villanova, Marshall is the school record holder in the indoor and outdoor 800m. Marshall competed in the 800m at the 1984 Los Angles Olympic Games and was the 1983 Indoor 880 yard national champion.
Marshall is assisted by associate head coach for men's track & field Jim Tuppeny, and assistant coaches Ellen Strickler, Antony Williams and George Reynolds.
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