On the second day of the event, it seems appropriate to give you a tour of the stadium. It is divided into three sections.
On the southeast side near the Paley Bridge is a sea of high school teams. I made my way through the tight groups of students, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the two high schools where my relatives are running, or my friend Chris Pellegrini, who coaches at West Springfield High School in Virginia.
We both enjoyed the high jump and pole vault. If you were in the lower stands, you could participate in the applause of the high jumpers. I have rarely seen a high jumper clear the bar. Coach Pellegrini explained that high jumpers don’t perform well because of the change in surfaces.
Despite being the coach at West Springfield for 25 years, Coach Pelligrini is as animated as ever. Before the men’s 3,000, he spoke with Trent Daniels of Gainesville, Virginia, who “doesn’t lose.” Sure enough, Daniels made the right move with about 300 to go to win in 8:18.82. As Pelligrini and I watched the runners from Virginia schools such as Edison, West Potomac and Thomas Jefferson, there was a slight sense of pride about Virginia’s representation at the meet.
North Carolina State’s Judd Armstrong defeated UConn’s Derek Shimer; both jumped 6′ 11′, but Armstrong won by fall. Likewise, Clemson’s Danielle Noble bested Fordham’s Zoe Arakeilan and Binghamton’s Luciana Robertson at 5”8 ¾.
Jamaican super fans Fluffy Lewis and Richard Greene, #pen relaysday 2, April 24, 2026
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There are many Jamaicans on the northeast side. Two different camps estimated that about 80% of the people in this section were Jamaican. I asked why they were all gathered in the same place and the general consensus was that they might be at the finish line. This worked out in a funny way as the Jamaicans seemed a little indifferent to all but the last lap of a couple of long races. As the runners reached the final lap, Jamaicans rose from their seats and cheered as Usain Bolt ran.
This section is the most expensive, with Saturday tickets ranging from $80 to a staggering $250.
A spirited woman named Fluffy Lewis gave me a bunch of colorful quotes (ie, “Jamaicans are born running from the womb”). On a practical level, he explained that Jamaicans now require the 1,500 and mile in their high schools, so the world should expect more top-level middle-distance runners from that country.
In addition to a significant portion of spectator revenue, Jamaicans also contribute to their most promising athletes. The Jamaican high school national champions are in March, but many see it as an unofficial rematch. Many high schoolers also find this to be an optimal college recruiting pipeline. The college system in Jamaica does not have athletics.
“It’s sad because we don’t have the resources out there to fund the athletes and sometimes we have to put up with people taking advantage of us for a better future,” said UDC athlete Kyndra Hines. He says that he had a good experience.
The southwest side is occupied by high schools, but college kids take over a large portion of it, like high school squads tossing aside the nerds during peak college times. At least it was like that last year. College athletes aren’t in the stands nearly as much this year. The degree to which they stay in the same place. They seem to hover around the field and in the warm-up zone, which is more than 200 meters away over the footbridge. The infield is so crowded that they have a dedicated team of “infield clerks” to manage the chaos. I had lunch with the field worker today.
In this section of the stadium I met the UPenn Lady Quakers. As I mentioned yesterday, Penn’s athletes ran some of the distance races. They explained that only a select few who had a chance to win the race stayed in the race, while many trained well as hares. I asked if, with their hare-brained responsibilities and organized work, they felt they were working more or less.
Lindsay Jakaboski replied: “More so because we can go wherever we want.” Penn athletes are given an all-access pass. Almost everyone in Penn’s athletic department is involved in the weekend to work for this event, but the Penn track team is given the opportunity to focus solely on their race.
Bullis runner Quincy Wilson, a 2024 Olympian in high school, is the biggest source of water cooler buzz. Random people were asking me when Quincy was nominated and I heard about the match director paying Bullis’ appearance fee with his own money. However, Arizona State’s Jaden Davis is the current world leader in the 400, and he flies pretty under the radar.
Stanford’s DMR team went toe-to-toe with UNC in the tape, but came up short. Olympian Juliet Whitaker is on the left. Penn Relays, Day 2, April 24, 2026
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Similarly, Juliet Whitaker, a Paris Olympian in the 800 and another Boulis graduate, went almost unnoticed in the crowd. She got a little more attention on the field as she blew DMR wide open before she narrowly avoided an oncoming rush by Providence’s Maeve O’Neill to hold onto the lead. North Carolina’s team of Sydney Masciarelli, Delea Martins, Makayla Page and Boston University transfer Vera Sjoberg had to turn in career-best performances to hold off Stanford by 0.08 seconds.
The men’s distance relay featured a number of heavy hitters with Virginia Tech’s George Cootie and Nicholas Plant; Washington’s Tyler Billiard and Ruben Reyna; Virginia’s Nathan Mount and Gary Martin are all in attendance. It came down to the wire between Oregon anchor Simeon Beerbaum and Villanova anchor Marco Langone.
Marco Langone is another athlete who is quickly becoming a household name for his accomplishments on the field and a touchstone of debate for his personality off the field. Villanova’s Marco Lango, last year’s top American in the NCAA 5K, runner-up in the 2026 NCAA 5K indoor race, the 3rd fastest collegiate 3K runner of all time, and has a number of other accolades to prove he’s one of the greats. But he’s also incredibly hard on himself, expressing that intensity in a way that makes him a polarizing figure. I think he’s a great athlete, but he’d be a better role model if he could handle losing in public better. Sports in general is a metaphor for life and life doesn’t always go your way.
However, while the throng of media around him was too large for me to get close enough to hear, colleagues told me he was more even than usual, which was a good sign.
Wherever you sit, the heat is pretty scorching in the middle of the day. The stadium is split vertically into two levels, with a second-level rise providing a refreshing level of shade if you get high enough during the low-level nosebleeds. The temperature differential changes so much when you’re in the shade, it’s reminiscent of the sloppy visual FX in the 1966 Batman episode depicting Mr. Freeze’s lair.
One of the final events of the night was the corporate DMR. Penn Relays spokesman Eric Rauman described it as separate from the rest of the relays.
“It’s a fun run offered to our corporate sponsors,” Rauman said.
Plus, this was the only event of the day where the runners got free pizza, so there’s plenty of reason for everyone to be jealous of them (and to be fair, the media got free pizza too).
My friend and I sat next to someone whose wife had traveled from Houston to represent ExxonMobil. Can you imagine if Exxon held that event a year after the Alaska oil spill? It might be good for PR.
Despite the rule that each quartet must include a man over 40 and a woman, the winning times were quite impressive.
Wisconsin’s Epic corporate team placed 4th in the corporate DMR. Interview here alongside coach Rebecca Coombes.
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I got an interview with the 4th place finisher Epic from Wisconsin. All four had strong youth running backgrounds before signing up for the race.
“We’ve wanted to do this for a few years, and this is the first year we’ve had enough people sign up to have (enough exposure) for the corporate DMR,” said team coach Rebecca Coombs, whose duties include designing shirts, scheduling workouts, booking accommodations and cheering on the sidelines.
Tomorrow will be the final day of the high school relays. highly competitive collegiate relays in the 4 X 1500, 4 X mile and 4 X 800; and Olympic development races.
