Spartans Have Record Day at Penn Relays
4/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 23, 2009
Complete Olympic Development Women's 5k Results | Video
PHILADELPHIA, Pa - In only their second season in Division I competition, the USC Upstate track and field team sent three athletes with qualifying times, one sophomore and two freshmen, to the esteemed Penn Relays on Thursday for the experience of a lifetime to compete in the world's largest annual track and field meet among 15,000 other athletes. Emily Tangwar, Jemeli Sang and Joan Tangwar stepped up to the challenge at 9 p.m. Thursday night, each displaying their strongest race of the season and earning personal best times in the Olympic Development Women's 5,000-meters event.
While the 115th annual Penn Relays set attendance records for their Thursday events (reaching a crowd of 24,314), the Upstate women's distance runners accomplished records of their own. Sophomore Emily Tangwar, in her second-straight year competing at the Penn Relays, led the Upstate women with a 24th-place finish with a time of 17:23.33, one second quicker than her best time this season set at the Raleigh Relays. Tangwar beat out runners from Harvard, Dartmouth and Vanderbilt.
Jemeli Sang finished right behind Tangwar in the 25th-place spot with a time of 17:27.60, dropping nearly 30 seconds from her best time this season. Joan Tangwar also secured a new personal best time with a finish in 17:33.86, nearly 25 seconds quicker than her top performance in the 5k at the Raleigh Relays.
"It was a long day for us," said Upstate's distance coach Ed Schlichter. "The journey started at 8 a.m. when we left to go to the airport. It was all worth it because we had some top-notch performances today. Emily was on a sub-17 minute pace for nearly the whole race but dropped off in the last half mile or so. I know she can still get below 17 minutes and this race will only help her. Jemeli and Joan both had huge PR's, dropping nearly half a minute off their season-best times. As freshmen competing against these superior athletes, they did a great job of staying poised and not being intimidated."
Toni Salucci of Adidas Raleigh took first-place with a time of 16:17.70. The first collegiate runner to finish was Katherine Peterson of Kentucky, who took eighth place with a time of 16:49.62.
"I'm so proud of all three girls," Schlichter continued. "It takes a race like this to really take in what a great opportunity this is. They really competed against some great athletes and didn't back down. We may have had quicker times today if the starting pace went out a little quicker, but I know the girls learned so much. There is still a lot that can happen before conference championships and we're still getting into the final tuning stage of the season. These girls have set the bar high for themselves and put USC Upstate on the radar."
Action on Thursday began at 10 a.m. with the college women's high jump and 400-meter hurdles, continuing throughout the day until 10:55 p.m. with the Olympic Development Men's 10,000-meters.
The USC Upstate track and field team will have this weekend to rest before traveling to Durham, N.C., to compete in the Duke Twilight on Sunday, May 3rd, and prepare for the A-Sun Conference Championships on May 15-16.
Complete result information, meet scheduling and other useful information can be found at www.thepennrelays.com.
