April 24, 2004

Refusing to leave Phillie without at least one pinwheel – the USC women’s 4x400m relay – live on national television (NBC) – won the Penn Relays final race of the day. USC’s women were also the runner-ups in the 4x100m relay and the 4x200m relay.

The relay hosted a record crowd of 49,491 on Saturday. Over 112,000 people saw the four day Penn Relays carnival.

“We had a great day. Anytime you can win a relay and finish as the runner-up in two others – that’s a great day,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. “We have some injuries on the men’s side that we are going to have to deal with, we are a bit thin. But they showed a lot of heart today and really put it on the line. Tawana Watkins improved her anchor leg split by more than a second, Ronatta Alexander hit the fifth hurdle in her race but stuck with it and Lashdina Demus – she came up with a big one again in the relay.”

“There were so many fine performances by SEC teams this weekend and many of the professional athletes running in the USA vs. the World races also went to SEC schools,” said Frye.

The 4x400m relay, comprised of Shevon Stoddart, Stephanie Smith, Lashinda Demus and Tawana Watkins, finished at 3:29.15 – the fifth fastest time in Penn Relays history. Demus ran a 50.1 split on her third leg. “We had to get this one back – we wanted this one,” said Demus. Afterwards Demus was interviewed live on NBC’s national telecast.

The women were second in the 4x200m relay.

The men were eighth in the 4x200m relay with a time of 1:29.75, partly due to the anchor leg, Rodney Martin, injuring his hamstring.

Ronetta Alexander ran a personal best to finish fifth in the 100m hurdles, putting up an NCAA regional qualifying mark of 13.43.

The women’s 4x800m relay was fifth with a time of 9:02.21 – even with lead-off leg Jenny Lake running almost the entire 800m with just one shoe.

Brook Antonio, yesterday’s discus champion, was eighth in the hammer with a mark of 184′ 1.