Oliver Hoare, Yared Nuguse Set To Reprise Classic 2019 DMR Matchup In Olympic Development Mile Where 50-Year Old Record Is In Jeopardy

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

John Nepolitan photos

The Penn Relays begins Thursday and runs through Saturday at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Here are some of the top storylines of this week's meet. One of the top storylines involves Bullis MD trying to end long Jamaican streaks in the boys and girls 4x400 relays - STORY

Men's Olympic Development Mile

It’s been five years since Yared Nuguse and Oliver Hoare battled the home straightaway at a rainy Franklin Field in 2019 in one of the all-time classic distance medley relay races in Penn Relays history.

Now, as On Athletics teammates, both Nuguse and Hoare are set to return to Philadelphia for the first time since that memorable run to race Saturday in the Men’s Olympic Development Mile on Toyota Day. 

Nuguse will begin his 2024 outdoor campaign at Penn Relays following another career-best indoor season. The former Notre Dame standout claimed his first U.S. indoor title Feb. 16 in Albuquerque in the 3,000 meters before going on to earn silver March 2 at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Hoare returns to U.S. soil after having race at the Australian Championships on April 13 in the men’s 1,500 to open up his outdoor season. The former Wisconsin Badger placed second in the Australian final in 3:37.83 and was a couple of tenths off of winning a national title behind Adam Spencer. 

Joining Nuguse and Hoare in the men’s field are Americans Eric Holt, who finished third at last year’s Olympic Development Mile in 3:58.01, and Josh Thompson, the 2022 U.S. indoor champion for 1,500.

World Indoor 1,500 champion Geordie Beamish, who won last year’s Olympic Development Mile, will be on pacing duties.

The Penn Relays men's mile record of 3:53.2 by North Carolina's Tony Waldrop has been on the books since 1974 and may not survive another weekend. 

College DMRs

Both the men’s and women’s collegiate distance medley relays bring in plenty of firepower that should make for some compelling races to watch.

On the women’s side, a loaded Harvard team, featuring NCAA indoor mile champion Maia Ramsden on the 1,600 leg, will look to win its first women’s title in Penn Relays history while challenging the meet record time of 10:48.38.

Alongside Ramsden will be Sophia Gorriaran, who finished 11th at NCAA indoors in the 800 preliminaries, on the 1,200 leg, Chloe Fair on the 400 leg and Victoria Bossong on the 800 leg. 

Going up against the Crimson will be a strong Providence squad that features Shannon Flockhart and Kimberley May. Flockhart will lead off on the 1,200 leg, with May on the 1,600 leg for the Friars. Jillian Fenerty and Alex O’Neill will be running the 400 and 800 legs, respectively.

Flockhart, O’Neill and May were all members of the winning 4x1500 relay team last year.

Chloe Foerster headlines the Washington team as the only member from the Huskies’ recording-setting indoor DMR team from this last indoor season in February where they ran 10:43.39 in Boston. 

With Foerster on the 1,600 leg, Samantha Friborg will lead off for the Huskies, followed by Marlena Preigh, then Wilma Nielsen.

Virginia and Penn State are also expected to be in the relay title hunt.

The men’s field features a close contest with four teams who have won the DMR title multiple times in year’s past.

Villanova, who has won the event a record 25 times, will look to claim its first title since 2018, with Liam Murphy on the anchor leg. Murphy anchored the Wildcats’ 4xMile team to victory last year.

Michigan will look to add a ninth wheel and a first since 2005, while Big Ten foe Penn State will look for its sixth overall and first since 2016.

Oregon, featuring USATF U20 1,500 champion Rheinhart Harrison on the 1,200 leg and 2022 Pac-12 800 champion Elliott Cook on the 1,600 leg, return to Penn to claim the Ducks' fifth DMR title. They last won in 2017.

Tinoda Matsatsa of Georgetown and Sam Whitmarsh of Texas A&M will race the 800 legs for their teams. 

College 4x800s

The Texas A&M men and Washington women have record-setting potential as they prepare to go to the starting line of the 4x800 relays. 

The Aggies will be eyeing not one, but two records this weekend as they’ll go after the Penn Relays record of 7:11.17 set by Penn State in 1985 and the collegiate record of 7:08.96 belonging to Arizona State since 1984.

With Sam Whitmarsh, who has run 1:44.46, on the anchor, A&M could be chasing history if he gets the baton on pace for the record. Kimar Farquharson, Cooper Cawthra and Caden Norris will need big performances themselves to help lift the Aggies squad.

As for the Washington women, the Huskies will feature the same line-up from the DMR. All four women have run faster than 2:04, with their fastest leg Wilma Nielsen leading off with a 2:02.55 lifetime best.

The meet record set in 2013 was ran in 8:17.45 by the Villanova women. On paper, Washington's lineup could go even faster. 

Nia Akins Returns

Nia Akins will make her homecoming to the Penn Relays five years after leading off Penn's Championship of America victory in the distance medley relay. It was the first victory by an Ivy League women's team. 

Akins, now an Olympic team contender racing for the Brooks Beasts, will race in the women's Olympic Development 1,500 meters. 

Joining her in the field are Sage Hurta-Klecker of On, Villanova alum Angel Piccirillo, Helen Schlachtenhaufen, Marta Pen Freitas of Portugal and Natoya Goule of Jamaica.

Ajee' Wilson and the Women's 800

After not making the U.S. team last year in the 800 meters, Ajee' Wilson took some time to regroup. She had been the dominant force in the event for the U.S. until the rise of Athing Mu. 

Wilson was absent during the indoor season, which raised questions about whether she might be thinking of retirement. 

But the four-time U.S. outdoor champion and 2022 world indoor champion, who will turn 30 next month, is set to compete at Penn Relays, where the Philadelphia-based star has long been a featured performer. 

Two other Americans who have been standouts at Penn since their high school days, Olivia Baker and Sabrina Southerland, are also in the field. Former Villanova star McKenna Keegan is there as well. 

Girls HS DMR

Emily Bush has had her fair share of success over the years with Saratoga Springs High of New York. The senior will look to add to her decorated career with another Penn Relays title this weekend

Saratoga Springs has won the last two girls high school DMR titles, featuring Bush on both of those teams, and will look to make it a third consecutive year.

Along with Bush in the line-up will be Alycia Hart, Anya Belisle and Genevieve Duchaussee. Bush, Hart and Belisle were all members of Saratoga Springs’ (Kinetic) back-to-back Nike Cross National titles in 2019 and 2022.

West Springfield High of Virginia are a close second with Saratoga Springs and will look to capture their first DMR title since 2014. Chloe Miller, Kiki Richardson, Rickelle Bush and Aidan MacGrath make up the team.

Mainland Regional of New Jersey, St. John’s College, Tatnall High of Delaware and Bayport-Blue Point of New York are among other top teams competing.

Boys HS Mile

A sub-4-minute mile is all that is missing from Drew Griffith’s already impressive resume, and to accomplish it right in his home state would be a dream come true. He nearly checked that box last weekend at the Butler Invitational, where he ran a personal best 4:00.77 and won by 17 seconds. 

Griffith, a Foot Locker cross country national champion and New Balance Indoor two-mile champion, has his eyes set on a barrier no prep athlete has ever dipped under at the Penn Relays.

The closet an athlete has come to breaking four minutes in the mile was another Pennsylvanian standout in Gary Martin at the 2022 meet. The former Archbishop Wood star ran 4:01.04 that season, winning by six seconds over another Butler Area standout in CJ Singleton.

This week, he’ll have plenty more company by his side, including two other Pennsylvanians and future Notre Dame teammates Ryan Pajak of Ringgold and Colin Whitaker of Lampeter Strasburg. 

Colin Eckerman of Tennessee’s The Webb School and Berkeley Nance of Virginia’s Mills Godwin are also among the top contenders in the field. 

Girls 3,000

Addison Ritzenhein of Niwot CO will make her Penn Relays debut when she races Friday in the 3,000 meters. The whole day's schedule is presented by On and her father, Dathan Ritzenhein, coach of the On Athletics Club, will be coaching throughout the weekend. 

The sophomore from Niwot (Boulder, Colo.) is the Nike Cross Nationals champion. She placed fifth in the mile at the Arcadia Invitational in 4:42.56. 

Ritzenhein will face a field that includes a host of other national cross country qualifiers (and All-Americans), including Zariel Macchia of William Floyd NY, Maddie Gardiner of Covenant School VA and Logan St. John Kletter from Mt. Lebanon PA. 

Vashti Cunningham Returns

For the first time since 2017, Vashti Cunningham will compete at Franklin Field in the women's Olympic Development high jump. 

Cunningham, 26, is a six-time U.S. outdoor champion in the high jump. When she made her first appearance at Penn Relays as a 19-year old, she won with a clearance of 6-4 (1.93m).

She opened her outdoor season April 6 at the UNLV Rebels Elite meet with a strong performance of 6-4.75 (1.95m).

Olympic Development 400s

Anything with a whiff of USA versus Jamaica is sure to get the attention of the crowd and the pros in the Olympic Development 400 meters is sure to raise the temperature. 

Americans Bryce Deadmon, Ryan Willie, Wil London III and Jacory Patterson are all entered in the men's race. Jamaica will be represented by Javon Francis and Karayme Bartley. 

In the women's race, seven Jamaican women are in the field along with Tierra Robinson-Jones, Chloe Abbott and Jada Griffin from the U.S.