Margo Britton’s talents were on full display in the 120th year of the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend. The junior finished first in the women’s college shot put event with a 15.37 meter heave on her last attempt that made her the only competitor with a throw above 15 meters.
“I think the best way to sum it up is satisfaction,” Britton said. “Philadelphia has a rich tradition at the Penn Relays and to be able to be part of that is exciting.”
The Penn Relays span Thursday through Saturday. The competition has over 15,000 athletes at the middle school, high school, college and Olympic level. Temple competed in the events in the Eastern Conference bracket.
Britton also competed in the discus throw competition, but failed to make the finals after launching a 45.69 meter strike.
Senior Gabe Pickett made the finals in the long jump, boosted by a 7.04 meter jump on his final attempt. He finished in fifth place. Senior Dylan Pensyl also competed and got 12th place, failing to make the finals.
“I did okay,” Pickett said. “It was not as good as my jump last week, but it is a good tune-up for next week’s championships.”
Pickett later captured fourth place in the men’s college triple jump with a 14.92 meter jump. Pickett was the Owls’ lone competitor on Saturday.
Sophomore Jamila Janneh represented the women’s side in the triple jump and got seventh place among 31 competitors.
Junior Evan Battallio came in 23rd place out of 27 in the shot put with a throw of 14.38 meters.
The men’s relay team of senior Alimamy Kallay, freshman Elijah Hargrove, freshman Adam Hasan and sophomore Jamal Williams came in to the Penn Relays after setting a season best last week and were looking to build off that. What they found instead was communication problems as they dropped their baton and failed to finish.
The same group would rebound an hour later in the 4×200 meter relay when they ran a season-best time of 1:28.75 that was good for 29th out of 50 teams.
“I think we were just able to get our mentalities together and stay composed and finish out the 4×2,” Hasan said.
The team of sophomore Demeshia Davis, freshman Bionca St. Fleur, freshman Jimmia McCluskey and junior Michelle Davis Timothy also ran a season-best with a 46.58 time in the 4×100 meter relays. That qualified them for the finals on Friday where they finished in last place of eight teams, but did better than Thursday’s time by two-hundredths of a second.
The girls admitted that they were not too upset as they are more focused on the American Athletic Conference Championships next weekend.
“It’s actually very crazy,” St. Fleur said about her first time at the Penn Relays. “I did not expect the turnout to be this much. I know a lot of people here are from Philly or at least from a city so that helps with the nervousness.”
St. Fleur also competed in the women’s college long jump and came in last, as her 4.91 meter jump landed her in 27th place.
Demeshia Davis and Michelle Timothy Davis also competed in the women’s college 4×400 with Kenya Gaston and Hollis Coleman.
The group came in 32nd place with a time of 3:49.15 in a field of 87 teams.
The Owls will return to action in The American Championships from May 2-4.
Stephen Godwin can be reached at stephen.godwin@temple.edu or on Twitter @StephenGodwinJr.
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