Three Allen track relay teams earned an invitation to the biggest track meet in the country over the weekend.
On Monday, ACC cross country and track and field head coach Vince DeGrado announced that three Red Devil relay teams will be competing in the Penn Relays at Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennslyvania in Philadelphia on April 26 and 27.
The Red Devil 4×800, mile relay and the distance medley teams will be competing against schools of all sizes at the biggest annual stage for track and field at any level.
Yoel Yoel, Xari Barros, Joshua Clethen and Joshua Doria will run in the 4×800, Doria, Clethen, Mitchell Dervin and Yoel will compete in the mile relay and Yoel, Michael Knowles, Clethen and Doria will run in the medley.
The Red Devils will run in front of a crowd of 35,000 to 40,000 fans in what is the considered the pinnacle of track and field.
The best way to compare this is if our baseball team played a game at Wrigley Field or the basketball teams played at Madison Square Garden, DeGrado said. Personally, next to coaching an athlete at the Olympic Trials, the dream is to coach a team at the Penn Relays. Ive waited until Ive had a group of runners that were good enough to compete at this level before I tried entering, so this is very humbling to be accepted.
These distance runners have placed near the top of their races both as a group and individually throughout their careers but a good showing in Philadelphia could prove to be a career highlight for them.
The distance medley championship will run at 4:15 p.m. on Friday. The 4×800 and mile relay will run at 12 and 3:10 p.m. on Saturday. The races will be televised on NBCSN.
