From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Paul VI graduate Aliya Garozzo ran the 4th-fastest 500 meters in Penn history Saturday at the Wesley Brown Invitational in Annapolis, Md.

Garozzo ran 1:12.31 as part of a fast 1-2-3 Penn Quaker sweep. Junior Isabella Whittaker broke the school record with a 1:10.12 win – which is No. 16 in NCAA Division 1 history – junior Jocelyn Niemiec was 2nd in 1:12.13 – No. 3 in school history – and Garozzo was a close 3rd in a race that produced three of the four-fastest times in school history.

Garozzo’s previous PR over 500 meters was 1:13.95 last winter when she placed 3rd in the Ivy League Championships – the Heps – in Hanover, N.H.

Last spring, Garozzo ran 59.76 in the 400-meter hurdles at a meet at Franklin Field, No. 5 in Penn history and went on to place 3rd at Heps, also at Franklin Field, and 2nd at ECACs in Fairfax, Va.

She’s No. 5 in Penn history in the 60-meter hurdles with her 8.49 from the prelims last year at Heps.

At PVI, Garozzo was a three-time state champ in the 100 and 400 hurdles and a mutiple Meet of Champions medalist.

Here’s a look at the all-time Penn top-10 list in the 500:
1:10.12 … Isabella Whittaker, 2024 [Wes Brown Invitational, Annapolis, Md.]
1:11.77 … Jesse Carlin, 2005 [ECAC Championships, Boston]
1:12.13 … Jocelyn Niemiec, 2024 [Wes Brown Invitational, Annapolis, Md.]
1:12.31 … Aliya Garozzo, 2024 [Wes Brown Invitational, Annapolis, Md.]
1:12.37 … Uchechi Nwogwugwu, 2019 [Ivy League Championships, Cambridge, Mass.]
1:12.68 … Jamie Massarelli, 2010 [ECAC Championships, Boston]
1:12.72 … Candace Taylor, 2015 [Armory Invitational]
1:12.75 … Nia Akins, 2017 [Ivy League Championships, New York]
1:13.04 … Skyla Wilson, 2022 [Ivy League Championships, New York]
1:13.36 … Taylor Hennig, 2015 [Ivy League Championships, Cambridge, Mass.]