April 24, 2014
With the annual Penn Relays Carnival taking place this weekend in Philadelphia, I figured this would be a good time to share one of my Penn Relays memories. Having grown up in the Philly suburbs, I attended the meet fairly frequently, although I never competed there.
The year that stands out the most to me is 1991. I was in my last year as a hurdler at nearby Cheyney State University. Four of my teammates would be competing in the 4×4 against other DII schools. So I hopped into my Chevette, picked up my girlfriend and my hurdling partner and drove into the city to support my teammates.
Three things stand out to me about that meet, and I’ll list them in no particular order:
The biggest shock came when Carl Lewis and his 4×1 teammates on the Santa Monica Track Club walked onto the track in skin-tight, skin-colored uniforms that created the illusion that they were about to run the race butt naked. Now that they had everyone’s attention, they went out and blasted the competition in a dominant performance.
The most thrilling race of that weekend was the high school boys 4×4 championship. Local squad West Chester Henderson took on and defeated a heavily favored powerhouse Jamaican team. The race between the two teams was close every step of the way, with the lead changing hands several times. Henderson’s anchor leg received the baton with a half-stride lead over the Jamaican anchor. He maintained that narrow margin all the way around the track. It seemed inevitable that at some point the Jamaican would surge past him, because that’s what the Jamaican’s did every year. But this time it didn’t happen.
At the end of the race, the Henderson kid dove across the finish line, raised an arm in triumph, then fell to the track in exhaustion. The crowd, which had been going nuts the entire race, erupted in an outpouring of cheers. The effort put forth by that Henderson anchor leg has remained indelibly imprinted into my mind to this day. You talk about leaving it all on the track? He left it all on the track. And if I had to make a list of the most thrilling races I’ve ever seen in person, that race would be at the very top of the list. Without a doubt.
Of course, as a hurdler, the most eye-opening event for me was the collegiate men’s shuttle hurdle relay. As a mid-15 guy, I had long ago dropped any aspirations of competing on a national level, but I still felt myself to be a decent hurdler. I can’t remember who the best teams were back then, but I feel safe in saying that Clemson, Tennessee, and Pitt had some rollers.
So anyway, I’m sitting with my future wife on one side of me and my training partner on the other, watching the shuttle hurdle heats. Out of curiosity, I time the splits of certain teams that I know are really good. My jaw falls open as I watch one hurdler blaze over 10 hurdles in one direction, then the next guy blazes over ten hurdles going the other way. Then the next guy, and the next guy. Next heat, same thing. I look down at my watch after one race and see something like, 13.6, 13.9, 13.8, 14.1. I can’t believe it. Four guys on one team who are that good? And it goes on that way heat after heat after heat, team after team after team.
At first my teammate Kurtis and I were sitting on the edge of our seats, giddy with excitement, living in hurdle heaven. But after a while we sat back, slumped down, and fell into silence. The reality hit both of us at pretty much the same time: we were scrubs. If the slow legs on these squads were running 14-lows, and we weren’t even sniffing the 14’s, we were scrubs.
It was a sobering, deflating realization. The one thing I truly had a passion for in this world was something I wasn’t even all that good at. I was in my last season of eligibility and I would be graduating in another semester. I remember thinking that I only had a couple more races left before my season would be over and I’d be done with the hurdles for good.
But what I’ve since come to learn is that if hurdling is your passion, you’re never done with the hurdles for good.
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Good luck to everyone competing at the Penns, Drake, and everywhere else this weekend. Hope you come back with some good memories.
