Penn Relays

Francena McCorory thought the finish line was moving back as she dueled on the home straightaway Saturday at Franklin Field trying to extend the winning streak for the United States in the women's 4x400-meter relay in the Penn Relays' "USA vs. the World" races. The Olympic gold medalist strained and stretched across the finish line by scant inches over Great Britain's Perri Shakes-Drayton to give USA Red the victory, the 12th in a row for the home country at Franklin Field. "I was looking for the finish line," McCorory said with a smile.

The pole vault is unlike most other track and field events, and the reason goes beyond the obvious - the poles that are more than twice as tall as the athletes. As a contest based on clearing heights, just like the high jump, the vault doesn't often begin with all the competitors participating. The better ones pass on what they consider pedestrian heights and wait until the bar gets raised to more serious levels. That routine was taken to a bit of an extreme Saturday at the Central Bucks West Relays.

Coverage of high school events at the Penn Relays. Sports, D6-7.

The wind was behind Rachel Laurent, and so was the crowd. The freshman from Louisiana State was hoping her first visit to the Penn Relays would be something special. The weather and her own rapidly expanding cheering section made certain of it. "It's pretty awesome to come here for the first time and end up with my name in the record book," Laurent said yesterday after setting a meet record in winning the women's college pole vault with a 13-foot, 101/2-inch effort at Franklin Field.

It's more track and field over a three-day period than most people will see in a lifetime. It's thousands of athletes ranging in age from 9 to 75-plus running around and around Franklin Field before a crowd that is guaranteed to yell "wooooo" every five minutes or so. It's the 114th edition of what the folks around here modestly call the nation's oldest, largest and best track and field meet. Of course, it's the Penn Relays. Here are some notable things to know: Duel renewed.

As a sports fan, you have been to Phillies, Eagles, Sixers, Flyers and Big 5 games. But your sporting life is not complete: You never have been to the Penn Relays. Tip: Do it. You will leave Franklin Field late Saturday afternoon smiling after watching the quality competition and the enthusiasm of the athletes and fans. If you can, bring a stopwatch. Talk about "splits" and you'll be an official track fan. Here is a guide on how to enjoy yourself. HOW TO GET THERE Fans are urged to take public transportation.

Senior Josh Awotunde thought he would be throwing spirals well past his days at Delsea Regional, but his plans were intercepted as early as his freshman year. Awotunde was the strong-armed and hard-to-bring-down, 6-foot-2, 230-pound quarterback and defensive lineman for Delsea's team that went 11-1 and won the South Jersey Group 3 championship in the fall. Awotunde went out for track as a freshman, hoping to be a sprinter and improve his speed for football. Even at his size, Awotunde can motor, but he was looking to get even faster.

ON SATURDAY afternoon at Franklin Field, Villanova's women did something they haven't been able to do in 16 years. Or really even tried to do. They won the 4 x 800 meters at the Penn Relays Carnival, an event they won nine times from 1979-97. But they hadn't entered it since the late 1990s, because coach Gina Procaccio didn't feel she had a foursome capable of competing. It also marked the first time the Wildcats - who took the distance medley Thursday for the second April in a row, the first time they'd repeated in that since 1994-95 - have won multiple times here since 1997 as well.

WHAT DOES a former NFL wide receiver do with his time? Well, if you're Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson, you spend the day hanging out with a homeless guy. Johnson sent out multiple tweets Saturday describing his encounter with a guy he called PorkChop. "Spent my whole day with Robert 'PorkChop' he doesn't know his last name, at Urban Outfitters," Johnson tweeted. Some would say that Johnson doesn't know his last name either, having legally changed it to Ochocinco (Spanish for 85, the number he wore in the NFL)

Coverage of high school events at the Penn Relays. Sports, E8-9.

Francena McCorory thought the finish line was moving back as she dueled on the home straightaway Saturday at Franklin Field trying to extend the winning streak for the United States in the women's 4x400-meter relay in the Penn Relays' "USA vs. the World" races. The Olympic gold medalist strained and stretched across the finish line by scant inches over Great Britain's Perri Shakes-Drayton to give USA Red the victory, the 12th in a row for the home country at Franklin Field. "I was looking for the finish line," McCorory said with a smile.

Alysia Montaño says it's a "visual clue" of her strength and femininity. The yellow flower in the U.S. Olympian's hair was more than that during the first race of the "USA vs. The World" showcase series at Saturday's Penn Relays. It was a sure sign to the 48,871 spectators on a spectacularly sunny afternoon in Franklin Field that something special was happening on the track. Running in splendid isolation on the anchor of the first 4x800 in the 13-year-old history of the popular series of world-class relay races, Montaño brought the baton, the crowd and that bright artificial flower home in record-setting time.

Isaac Clark took his first good look at the gold watch still tucked in its box, smiled broadly, and said, "I got a little something to wear to my banquets. " Good thing, because he probably has a few of those in his future after the history he helped make Saturday. Pleasantville became the first New Jersey school in 30 years to win the boys' 4x800 Championship of America at the Penn Relays. The Greyhounds' time of 7 minutes, 40.71 seconds set a school record and was the fastest race any U.S. school has run this spring.

Penn State is more than a three-hour ride from Franklin Field, but the Nittany Lions like to think of the Penn Relays as a home game for their track team, especially those runners who have been competing at the carnival since high school. The Lions certainly felt right at home Friday. They received a gutty 1,600-meter anchor leg from sophomore Robby Creese and picked up a hard-earned victory over Villanova and Oregon in the men's distance medley relay, their first win in the event since 1959.

WE'LL NEVER know what might have happened had Villanova's women maybe had some fresher legs to run in yesterday afternoon's 4 x 1,500-meter race at the Penn Relays. But the Wildcats used three of the same people - all underclassmen - who had helped them win the distance medley relay for the second straight year the day before, an event that Michigan and Oregon elected to skip. So naturally, it came down to those three teams. And in the end, Michigan and Oregon had just a little bit more, even though anchor Emily Lipari did about all she could to at least give Villanova a chance.