Villanova women go distance at Penn Relays

V ILLANOVA'S WOMEN'S track team did it again.

The Wildcats won the 4 x 800 Championship of America on Saturday to sweep the three distance races at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field for the second straight year.

The Wildcats won in 8:21.49, marking the first time ever that a Villanova women's team had won consectuive titles using the same runners.

Kelsey Margey opened with a 2:06.33, followed by Angel Piccirillo (2:06.00), Nicky Akande (2:05.67), and Emily Lipari (2:03.50)

"I don't even know what to say about these girls anymore," coach Gina Procaccio said. "This is all the athletes. They are the ones who did it. I put the same lineup out there because it worked last year and I was hoping that lightning would strike twice. But they still had to go out and do it. They ran with big old Villanova hearts. I am so proud of them because they deserve it."

The Wildcat women won the Distance Medley Relay on Thursday and the 4 x 1,500 on Friday. Akande and Lipari ran the final two legs, respectively, in each race of the sweep.

Also on Saturday, the Villanova men won the 4 x 800 Championship of America in 7:16.58 with a team of Josh Lampron (1:51.80), Dusty Solis (1:49.45), Jordan Williamsz (1:48.77) and Samuel Ellison (1:46.58).

Penn's Thomas Awad won the men's Olympic Development Mile in 3:58.34, becoming only the second Quaker to run a mile in under 4 minutes.

And, Penn's Maalik Reynolds became the first male Quaker in 107 years to win multiple high jump titles at the relays with a 7-feet, 2 1/4-inches. He also won 4 years ago as freshman.