Distance Medley Places Seventh in Penn Relays
PHILADELPHIA ? The University of Oregon men’s distance medley relay placed seventh (9:40.39) in second-day duty in the prestigious Penn Relays Friday.
UO's quartet consisted of redshirt junior Michael McGrath (1,200m 2:58.2), freshmen Chad Barlow (400m 48.5), Andrew Wheating (800m, 1:51.1) and A.J. Acosta (1,600m, 4:02.6)
Overall in the event, Texas anchor Leo Manzano pulled away in the final 200 meters to lead Texas to a repeat win (9:29.60) over Villanova (second, 9:32.00), Tennessee (third, 9:32.95) and Michigan (fourth, 9:36.59).
Complete event results and relay splits are available at the University of Pennsylvania athletic department’s www.PennAthletics.com website at the http://www.pennrelaysonline.com/?SPSID=10846&SPID=559&DB_OEM_ID=1700 URL address.
The Men of Oregon’s middle distance troops stands as one of its deepest in the last two decades and already features three regional qualifiers that have run sub-3:46.00 in the 1,500m, and three others that have broken 3:50.00 in ’07.
Indoors, UO’s men’s distance medley relay ran four NCAA provisional marks that rank top-five all-time for UO (school record 8:37.95; #2 9:39.43; #4 9:41.64; #5 9:42.06). The pair of McGrath and A.J. Acosta were NCAA indoor mile qualifiers in 2006 and ’07, respectively thanks to their indoor bests of 3:59.25 and 4:00.37 that rank second and third all-time for UO.
Looking ahead to action in meet’s final day, Acosta, McGrath, Wheating and redshirt sophomore J.K. Withers will compete in the men’s 4xmile relay Saturday.
Later Friday afternoon, several UO athletes will compete in the first day of the two-day California Collegiate Challenge in Berkeley, Calif., Friday-Saturday. A handful of distance runners may also compete Sunday, April 29 in the Cardinal Invitational in Stanford, Calif. More meet information for those meets is at the www.CalBears.com and www.GoStanford.com websites.
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