Paul VI’s Aliya Garozzo and the Penn Quakers smashed the Ivy League 1,600-Meter Relay record Saturday and placed 3rd in the Championship of America at the 128th annual Penn Relays.
Racing on their home track at Franklin Field, the Quakers ran 3:29.29, finishing behind only Houston [3:27.32] and Texas A&M [3:29.27].
Penn’s 3:29.29 is the 3rd-fastest 3rd-place time in meet history.
That time is No. 12 in NCAA Division 1 this year, No. 27 in the world and No. 9 on the U.S. list (all four runners must be from the U.S. to be eligible for that list, which is why Penn is ranked higher in the U.S. than in college track).
Garozzo, a senior from Sicklerville, ran the 2nd leg for Penn and although her split isn’t available, she’s been regularly running 52-low splits this spring. Junior Jocelyn Niemiec of Arnold O. Beckham High in Irvine, Calif., led off for Penn, with sophomore Christiana Nwachuku of Kent Place School in Summit and senior Isabella Whittaker of Mount DeSales Academy in Catonsville handling the last two legs, Whittaker anchoring in 50.05.
Penn broke the school and Ivy League record of 3:29.64 that the Quakers just set last month at the Florida Relays in Gainesville.
Before that, the Ivy League record was 3:29.98 by Harvard in 2016 in the NCAA Division 1 East Preliminary meet in Jacksonville and the school record was 3:32.12 set by the 2019 team, also at NCAA East Prelims in Jacksonville.
Penn also broke school and Ivy League 4-by-4 records indoors, with a 3:29.86 at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational in February. That was with a lineup of Nwachuku, Niemiec, Whitaker and Garozzo.
Garozzo will turn her attention back to the hurdles this coming weekend when Penn competes in the Ivy League Championships (the “Heps”).
Garozzo is the top-ranked woman in the Ivy League in both the 100-meter hurdles [13.65 earlier this month at Penn] and the 400-meter hurdles [57.22 in Gainesville earlier this month]. Both are PRs, and the 57.22 is a school record and the 13.65 is 4th in Penn history. Garozzo won the 60-meter highs at indoor Heps in February in Cambridge, Mass.
Heps are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Princeton’s Weaver Stadium.
We thought it would be fun to come up with an all-time Penn Relays 4-by-4 sub-3:30 list!
3:24.72 … Oregon, 2017 [1]
3:25.05 … Texas, 2014 [1]
3:25.97 … Texas A&M, 2023 [1]
3:26.53 … South Carolina, 2022 [1]
3:26.56 … Ohio State, 2023 [2]
3:26.73 … Oregon, 2013 [1]
3:27.14 … Duke, 2023 [3]
3:27.32 … Houston, 2024 [1]
3:27.64 … Texas, 2003 [1]
3:27.85 … Miami (Fla.), 2006 [1]
3:27.85 … Utah, 2013 [2]
3:27.93 … Auburn, 2006 [2]
3:27.96 … LSU, 2006 [3]
3:28.00 … South Carolina, 2005 [1]
3:28.34 … South Carolina, 2001 [1]
3:28.68 … LSU, 2003 [2]
3:29.10 … South Carolina, 2002 [1]
3:29.15 … South Carolina, 2004 [1]
3:29.27 … Miami (Fla.), 2005 [2]
3:29.27 … Texas A&M, 2024 [2]
3:29.29 … Penn, 2024 [3]
3:29.46 … Texas, 2015 [1]
3:29.70 … Texas Tech, 2005 [3]
3:29.78 … South Carolina, 2007 [1]
3:29.91 … LSU, 1993 [1]
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 