PHILADELPHIA ? The University of Kentucky track and field teams concluded competition at the 112th annual Penn Relays Saturday afternoon. An abbreviated men?s 4×400 relay squad highlighted the day for the Cats by coming off the pace to finish a close second in the collegiate section finals.
The Kentucky 4×400 relay closed out the meet strong with a second-place finish in the collegiate flight (3:06.63). Sophomore Nathan Browning ran a solid opening leg and passed the baton to senior Dedrick Tillerson in third place. Tillerson helped Kentucky maintain its position before freshman Jose Acevedo stormed to the front of the pack in the third leg and put Kentucky in contention for the lead. Junior Luis Luna grabbed the baton from Acevedo trailing Mississippi State by 10 meters, but steadily closed the gap. Luna then made one last charge in the last 20 meters but came up inches short (3:06.63) of the Bulldogs (3:06.54). The Cats entered the meet with the second fastest time in the country (3:04.81) but were without the services of sophomore Justin Harrison ? UK?s top 400 runner on the season (46.56) ? because of a minor hamstring injury.
The UK men?s 4×200 relay competed in the Championship of America flight and came away with a respectable fourth-place finish (1:23.78). Acevedo, Browning, Luna and freshman Gordon McKenzie made up the squad.
UK?s men?s 4×800 relay of sophomore Gabe McLaren, junior Nick Reeves, freshman Ryan Finn and sophomore Stephan Smith placed fourth in the collegiate flight with a time of 7:34.71.
Other highlights of the historic meet included Kenya breaking the world record for the distance medley relay (9:15.56). The USA Blue squad finished second with the second-fastest time ever recorded (9:15.63). Both teams ran the final mile leg in 3:52.8 and 3:53.8, respectively. World record holder Asafa Powell (Jamaica, 9.77 WR) teased the largely-based Jamaican crowd in the 100 with an easy victory (10.10), while seasoned veteran Austin Leary won the 75-years old and up 100 in 17.36. In the showdown of the day, Team USA ran away with the 4×100 title (38.33) over rival Jamaica (38.95). Olympic gold medalist and former Tennessee standout Justin Gatlin wowed the crowd by pulling away on the anchor leg as the stands erupted into chants of ?U-S-A, U-S-A?. Following the race, however, the jumbo-tron showed that Team USA had an illegal handoff after the third leg and was thus DQ’d. Team USA’s White Team was then named the winner. Attendance for the final day reached 49,000, a new meet record. Kentucky’s women’s 4×800 and men’s 4×100 also competed.
Up next for the Cats is the SEC Championships, May 11-14, in Fayetteville, Ark.
