North Carolina runs 10:36.82, a collegiate DMR record, to win at Penn by half a step
Vera Sjöberg out-leaned Stanford's Mena Scatchard after Juliette Whittaker's record 1200 m leg; both teams beat Harvard's 2024 mark of 10:37.55.
Photograph: A women's field lined up on the Franklin Field track at the 2024 Penn Relays, by Habst, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNorth Carolina won the women's distance medley at the Penn Relays on Friday in 10:36.82, a collegiate record. The old mark was Harvard's 10:37.55 from 2024. Stanford, second in 10:36.90, was also under it, and the race was decided by half a step on the Franklin Field straight.
Stanford's Juliette Whittaker broke away on the last lap of the opening 1200 m and handed over in 3:12.81, a Penn Relays record for the leg. Alyssa Jones ran 52.53 for the 400 m and Amelia Everett 2:04.91 for the 800 m. Carolina's legs were Sydney Masciarelli 3:16.35, Delea Martin 53.91, Makayla Paige 2:00.42 and Vera Sjöberg 4:26.14. Paige was the NCAA indoor 800 m champion last year; Sjöberg was sixth in the NCAA indoor 3000 m this winter and seventh at the World Indoor Championships for Sweden. On the anchor she ran down Mena Scatchard, whose 4:26.65 was half a second quicker over the mile, and got to the line first.
Villanova was third in 10:48.84, a fraction outside a school record from 1988, with Clemson and Washington inside 10:50. Stanford's time took nearly 14 seconds off its own school record.
Elsewhere on the day, NC State's Angelina Napoleon won the steeplechase by more than 18 seconds in 9:37.72 and Liberty's Allie Zealand ran 15:26.38 for 5000 m, breaking a Penn Relays record PattiSue Plumer set in 1984.
A collegiate record is usually one team running away from everyone. This was two teams under the old mark, separated by a lean. The second-fastest DMR in NCAA history got silver.
Sources: Track & Field News; Stanford Athletics; Daily Emerald.
