MSU Travels To Philadelphia For Historic Penn Relays
Just to win one is an achievement in itself. To claim three in this meet, which started in 1895, is nearly unheard of. And starting Thursday, the Bulldogs return to Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa., looking to make more history.
They also make the trip with considerable momentum following their impressive showings at the Jace LaCoste Invitational and the Mississippi Open the past two weekends, respectively.
"Anybody who is associated with track knows the importance of the Penn Relays," MSU coach Steve Dudley said. "The stands are going to be full. The competition is going to be as good as it gets. It's just very special."
A year ago, the men's 4x100 relay team of Justin Christian, D'Angelo Cherry, Gerron Hendricks and Tavaris Tate won the college division with a time of 40.09. Then it was Tate, along with Dwight Mullings, Kendall May and O'Neal Wilder, taking home medalist honors in the Championship of America division in the 4x200 at 1:21.49.
And to top off the successful weekend, the 4x400 squad of Wilder, Tate, Mullings and Emanuel Mayers ran 3:04.92 to finish first in the Championship of America division to give the Bulldogs the rare hat trick.
"The first step is to make the finals by getting out of the preliminaries," Dudley said. "And once you get to the finals, anything can happen. But you have to put yourself in position first. Then, you can re-establish yourself and make adjustments where needed."
The Bulldogs will be without two key components this week due to injuries - Mayers and Cherry. Mayers is out for the season and will be seeking a redshirt. However, Dudley said he does expect Cherry to return for the SEC Championships in Athens, Ga., May 12-15.
As for the 117th running of the Penn Relays, MSU gets underway at 8:20 a.m. on Thursday with 5000m run. The first event for the women is the preliminaries of the 4x100 at 2 p.m.