Spartans Send Three To Compete At Penn Relays
4/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 22, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Emily Tangwar, USC Upstate's top women's distance runner, will compete on Thursday in her second-straight Penn Relays Carnival, the first and oldest of relay meets. Freshmen Jemeli Sang and Joan Tangwar have also been accepted and will join her at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Last year, Tangwar became Upstate's first track and field athlete to compete at the esteemed Penn Relays, where she earned a 13th-place finish in the 10,000-meter race with a time of 36:24.96. Tangwar finished ahead of runners from top-notch schools including Mississippi State, Florida State and Florida.
"In the track and field world, the Penn Relays are one of the most well-known events," said Upstate head track and field coach Jimmy Stephens. "Anyone who has ever been will come away with a new appreciation for the sport of track and field. The entry standards are extremely competitive and for our athletes to qualify speaks very highly. In having athletes compete for the second-straight year of our young program, it is also a great indicator of the direction in which our program is headed."
This year, the three Upstate women, all hailing from Eldoret, Kenya, will compete in the Women's Olympic Developmental 5,000-Meter race, slated to go off at 9 p.m. on Thursday. All have completed a 5k in sub-18 minutes this season, with Emily Tangwar topping all women with a time of 17:24.30, as the three will be looking to reach new personal bests against 37 other top college runners.
"This is extremely exciting to be going back to The Penn Relays for the second year in a row," said Upstate's distance coach, Ed Schlichter, who will be returning to his home state of Pennsylvania. "We're very fortunate to be competing in one of the world's biggest track meets. We are looking to build off of Emily's success here last year as we'll be chasing personal bests in this elite field of the nation's top collegiate and professional distance runners.
"Each year we look to bring a bigger group to the race to represent the USC Upstate track and field program. This will really demonstrate how much our program is growing and improving as these girls have an opportunity to really put our program on the map. They are in top form and this will complete our training phase leading up to conference championships in mid-May."
The 115th annual Penn Relays will begin Thursday, April 23, and continue through Saturday, April 25, where 322 different events will be showcased for over 35 hours in three days. Several thousand high school, college, and Olympic elite athletes from all over the world have qualified to compete in the Penn Relays, which acts as a preview for Olympic athletes.
"Competing at events such as the Penn Relays sends a strong message that Upstate Track and Field has arrived," Stephens said. "As our program continues to grow and our athletes develop, we will look to take more athletes to this amazing event as we want our student-athletes to compete against the top Division-I competition. I am very excited to see what our women can do on Thursday."
Results, a composite schedule of events, schools competing and more information can be found at www.thepennrelays.com.
