MSU Track Teams Head To Philadelphia For 121st Penn Relays

BALTIMORE, Md. (April 21, 2014)-The Morgan State men's and women's track and field teams will take part this weekend in the world's oldest and largest relay carnival, the 121st running of the Penn Relays.

The Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, will take place at Franklin Field on Tuesday, April 21 with the opening day of the multi events with the decathlon and heptathlon. The decathlon and heptathlon will conclude on Wednesday as the first championships of the 2015 Penn Relays are awarded. The official three day start of the Penn Relays gets underway on Thursday, April 23-Saturday, April 25) and will welcome the best high school, collegiate and international athletes in the world.

Last year the three-day attendance totaled 108,660, marking the 11th straight year and the 14th time in the last 15 years in which that mark surpassed 100,000 spectators.

The first Penn Relays were held on April 21, 1895, in conjunction with the University's Spring Handicap Track and Field Games. The festival, the longest uninterrupted collegiate track meet in the country, routinely draws more than 100,000 spectators and more than 22,000 entries, about half of whom are high school students.

As a program, Morgan State has won a total of 16 Penn Relay Championships with 12 coming on the men's side. The last men's championship at the Penn Relays came in 1984 with the 4X200 meter relay team claiming victory in a time of 1:22.49, followed by the shuttle hurdles championship in a time of 56.27. The last women's title was in 1986 by the 4X100 meter relay team. Three of the Lady Bears' four overall titles have come in the 4X100 meter relay event.

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