PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: The UB Mingoes turned in strong performances at the 125th running of the University of Pennsylvania Relays over the weekend despite the rain and weather hurting much of their performances.
“It was a satisfying performance overall but I expected a bit more,” head coach Ednal Rolle said.
On the main day of competition for the Mingoes on Friday Franklin Field was drenched and temperatures dipped in the low 60’s. There were also two weather delays on Friday because of rain and lightning.
Coach Rolle also felt the weather was a big factor in national record holder in the decathlon Ken Mullings not repeating as Penn Relays Champion. Despite not clearing any height in the pole vault, Mullings finished the decathlon competition with 6649 points—143 points behind the winner. Christopher Gabor from Mount St. Mary’s won the event with 6792 points. Mullings took silver.
“This again was weather working on him during the competition,” Rolle said. “As he approached on his final attempt the pole slipped and he almost hurt himself.”
Men’s 4×100
The team of Kendrick Thompson, Anthony Adderley, Yurick Dean, Clyde McKenzie won their heat in 42.53 seconds on Friday. The team finished 32nd overall out of 64 teams in the competition. “We performed pretty well for a team that was running in the rain,” said Yurick Dean who ran the third leg.
Men’s 4x200m
In the men’s 4x200m relay, Anthony Adderley, Yurick Dean, Kendrick Thompson, and Verdell Mcintosh had some clean exchanges on Friday and finished in a time of 1:26.65. The team finished 12th overall out of 32 teams.
Coach Rolle said he had hoped for more from the team.
“The weather conditions and the boys having to come in so late at night and then having to get right back up to run the next morning affected their performance,” he said. “I had a better team on paper this year in the 4×200 after making the top 8 last year and this year we only got 12th with a better team. That told me that under the conditions they were not able to perform at their best.”
Anthony Adderley on the lead-off leg said he believes the team did the best they could. “The guys had good exchanges,” he said, “but I think the weather played a big part in us not performing as best we could.”
Sprint medley men
Anthony Adderly, Donya Roberts, Brandon Hanna, Tyler Gardiner hit the track in the sprint medley relay for The Mingoes. The sprint medley is run in legs of 200m, 200m, 400m and 800m.
The team finished in a time of 3:37.17 to take third place in the second heat and 10th overall.
“The weather was playing a big factor in how we performed,” said Brandon Hanna who ran the 400m leg of the medley. “I use the analogy that in the last 100m a monkey jumped on my back and I just couldn’t get it off.”
Women’s 4×200
Destiny Pratt, Gabrielle Shannon, Romica Josey, and Alexandria Strachan ran 1:44.39 to finish 26th overall in the women’s 4×200 relays on Friday. There were 41 teams entered.
Women’s 4×400
The team of Amber Ford, Romica Josey, Jodie Miller, and Gabrielle Shannon opened competition for the Mingoes on the track Thursday in the 4×400 relay.
The team took 6th in the 5th heat in a time of 4:00.41 and placed 44th overall out of a field of 60 teams.
Women’s Sprint Medley
Alexandria Strachan, Gabrielle Shannon, Romica Josey, and Amber Ford represented The Mingoes in the Sprint Medley. The sprint medley is run in legs of 200m, 200m, 400m and 800m. The team finished in a time of 4:07.23 to finish 8th in the Championship of America Invitational event.
“We could have had better exchanges but we did the best we could have in the rain,” team captain and anchor leg runner Amber Ford said. “I think we performed ok we could have done much better if we had a little more relay training but we had a great performance.”
