This year I vowed to arrive a little earlier than 3pm on the first day of the meet. As this is now my fourth professional track meet, I’m excited to see some familiar faces and the glamor of the world’s greatest track.
However, I forgot that the first day can become monotonous. No kidding, there are four freaking hours of the same event, the girls 4×4. This may be the most attended trailer meet in America, but there’s always room for improvement. Couldn’t there be a better way to break up the heat without risking turning the audience off?
There’s still plenty of drama in this event. Hundreds upon hundreds of schools will compete for the chance to compete in the finals of just eight teams. Three Jamaica schools – Hydel, 3:39.55; Edwin Allen, 3:39.56; Holmwood, 3:39.82 – topped the 4×400 heats. Bullis was fourth in 3:40.24.
Edwin Allen JAM led the 4×100 in 45.63. Bullis and Pennsauken, N.J. tied for second in 45.68.
At some point I decided to try to find my old friend Chris Pelligrini who coaches West Springfield. This brings up an interesting point. If you were to walk around the perimeter of the stands at Franklin Field just to find a specific team out of the hundreds out there, how exhausting would that be? It turned out to be moderately easy to spot Chris and his contingent.
Eventually I started to get into a zen state of watching 1600 relays over and over and enjoying the ride.
I also had time to go to the “carnival”. a standard sort of expo with lots of trade stands, and marines for some odd reason. Opinions may vary, but the two highlights were the battle of the protein bars. In one corner, David was giving out free samples like a chocolate shop. Their rival, Jambar, offered 800 world champion Sage Hurta-Klecker. Last year I met her husband, 2021 Olympian Joe Klecker. When I found out he made it to the finals in Tokyo, I felt especially proud to have helped him gain more respect from the crowd. One guy asked who he was, and I gave a particularly brief summary, “top eight in the world last year,” which made his head spin.
I asked Sage if she married Joe because he was so fast. I proposed a scenario. What if the University of Colorado runner 14 and Joe fell in love with her at the same time? Would his speed be key in his decision-making process? He assured me that it was a matter of matching personalities and said a very wise saying. “speed fades fast.”
Watching the 1,500 heats, I was dumb enough not to realize that many of the University of Pennsylvania runners who were leading before the early bends were actually pace setters. Silly me. I was rooting for them too.
At this point a lot of college athletes started to filter in and I started to remember a few names. Mick Byrne, the University of Wisconsin coach with his famous Irish brogue, even remembered me, which was kind of a weird feeling because I don’t remember the match and I’ve known about him for about five years.
All three of the women’s 1,500 races were incredibly close, with winning times ranging from 4:11 to 4:16. The winner, Kylie Finger of Wisconsin, came out of the second round. I interviewed him and learned that he is one of the popular social media sensations, The Running Rats. Even though it’s just a social media channel, I was a bit shocked to learn this.
Kylie Finger, #runners and 1500m champion Kylie Finger talks to Orin Konheim for RunBlogRun. #inhemixedzone. Kylie talked to Orrin @IG: celebrity and how @uwbadgers: support them. Day 1, April 23, 2026
🎥 @okonh0wp: #Pen relays, #running, #dream ,… pic.twitter.com/M9XkvKQpxL
— RunBlogRun (@RunBlogRun) April 26, 2026
Kylie Finger, UW Badger and Running Rat win 1,500 meters at Penn Relays, video by Orrin Konheim
Vassar’s Haley Schnoenege (took a few looks at the program to make sure I spelled it right) Vassar has the third or fourth fastest time in Division III history. I was impressed that the presenter was able to make such a point. Having met one of the presenters at lunch, I better understood the requirements of this job. there are 314 events that include 1,016 high schools, nearly 200 colleges, middle schools, professional runners, and more. Given how much data there is to absorb, I’ve evolved over the day to give the presenter more leeway for any mistakes they might make.
Because I have to keep interviewing, writing, moving places, stopping to catch my breath and eat, I don’t always have the luxury of catching every event. As a result, I missed the women’s 400 barriers while getting pictures of the hot spot.
I later learned that University of Miami’s Sanaa Hebron had set the meet record with a time of 55.30. She was followed by NC State’s Angelina Napoleon (3K run) and Allie Zealand of Liberty (5K) set three meet records.
During one of the heats of the women’s 5K race, I noticed they were playing Shallow A Star Is Born. Was this fake country ballad fast enough for the race? I decided to pay more attention to the music selection and noticed an eclectic mix. The next three songs were Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman,” “Bye Bye Bye” by *NSYNC and “Ay Way You Want It” by Journey. Seems a bit unfair to runners who have to run a race to low music.
The men’s 3K race and the men’s 10K race had disappointing fields. Texas A&M’s Victor Kibiego, the only running back with All-American potential, was left out.
My last event of the night was the Electric 5K, which featured multiple lead changes, with Georgetown’s Birhanu Harriman, UNC’s Tomer Tarragano, Cornell’s Pierre Athiogbe, Georgia Tech’s Taylor Wade, and Boston University’s Freddie Collins all wildly swinging back and forth in the lead. Atiogbe, who made big jumps in the mile this year (3:52 PR), is a dual citizen who competes for France. It was her first 5K at the collegiate level, and she thinks she’ll be at it for more.
I went home exhausted but excited for the star power that lay ahead tomorrow when the big college relays began.
