Penn freshman Aliya Garozzo from Paul VI used a powerful finish to snag 5th place in the 500-meter run at the Ivy League Heps Championships Sunday.
Garozzo ran 1:13.44 in the first of two sections of the 500 final at at the Armory, then watched as her time held up for 6th overall after the second section.
Her time is No. 8 in Penn history, which is quite an achievement considering her limited experience at a very challenging distance.
Garozzo just ran her first collegiate 500 two weeks ago and ran 1:15.68 in a meet at Lynchburg, Va. She ran 1:14.45 in the Ivy Heps trials on Saturday before her breakthrough race on Sunday.
Here’s a look at the all-time Penn 500-meter list:
1:11.77 … Jesse Carlin, 2005
1:12.37 … Uchechi Nwogwugwu, 2019
1:12.68 … Jamie Massarelli, 2010
1:12.72 … Candace Taylor, 2015
1:12.75 … Nia Akins, 2017
1:13.04 … Skyla Wilson, 2022
1:13.36 … Taylor Hennig, 2015
1:13.44 … Aliya Garozzo, 2022
1:14.26 … Victoria Strickland, 2012
1:14.56 … Dana McCurdy, 2005
1:14.65 … Mikayla Schneider, 2017
Garozzo did run a 500 in high school, clocking 1:19.16 as a PVI junior in another meet at the Armory, so she had some experience at the distance.
Her best event is the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, which she won both as a junior and a senior at the state Parochial A meet. Her PR of 1:00.16 at the 2019 New Balance Nationals in Greensboro is No. 6 in South Jersey history and earned her All-America honors with a 5th-place finish.
Safe to say a 1:13.44 in a speed-strength event like the 500 augurs well for her performance in the 400IH this spring.
Garozzo also ran a 56.72 third leg on Penn’s 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:47.46.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 