Kiara Lester is a Penn Relays champion!
Lester, a Penn State junior from Wenonah and Deptford High, ran the first 200-meter leg on the Nittany Lions’ sprint medley team, which won the Championship of America title Friday at the 125th annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field.
Brooke-Lynn Williams, Lester, Alexis Holmes and Danae Rivers teamed up to run a school-record 3:45.25 and beat George Mason by five meters.
The relay title is only the third in Penn State history at the Penn Relays. The Nittany Lions won the 3,200-meter relay in 1978 and the 1,600-meter relay in 2008.
Penn State was third last year in 3:47.80 with Lester and Rivers in the lineup. That was also the old school record. Penn State’s time is No. 3 in the nation this year, behind only Texas A&M (3:42.20) and Texas (3:45.05).
Rutgers placed fourth in 3:48.63 with two South Jersey products on the team — Iyanla Kollock of Our Lady of Mercy and Ajae Alvarez-Tyler of Egg Harbor.