Oregon's distance medley relay held off Villanova by a tenth of a second in 9:32.08 to win the closest men's DMR in Penn Relays history at Franklin Field on Friday night, the first time since 2012 that the top two finishers were separated by less than three-tenths and the closest top-two split this century. North Carolina's women's quartet set a new collegiate record of 10:36.82 in their own DMR final 24 hours later, capping a record-rich opening weekend of the outdoor track season's biggest collegiate stage.
The Oregon anchor was sophomore Simeon Birnbaum, the former Foot Locker national champion, who took a six-metre deficit into the final lap and reeled in Villanova's Ben Connor down the home straight. Birnbaum's 4:00.6 split off a flying baton was the fastest 1600 leg in the meet by more than a second. Connor's 4:01.4 — fast in any other year — was not enough as Villanova fell short of completing what would have been a third consecutive Penn Relays DMR title.
Virginia took third in 9:33.13, with American (9:33.41) and Michigan (9:33.82) rounding out a top five all under the previous Penn Relays meet record. Five teams under the old record was a new outdoor benchmark and underlined how deep American collegiate distance running has become heading into the NCAA outdoor championship in Eugene. Oregon coach Robert Johnson said the team raced "like they were owed something" after dropping a baton in the same race twelve months earlier.
North Carolina's women set the NCAA's all-time DMR record on Saturday morning with a 10:36.82, lowering the 10:42.06 the Tar Heels themselves ran two years ago. Anchor Makayla Paige split 4:25.6 in the 1600 to break clear of Stanford and Notre Dame, who finished second and third in 10:41.10 and 10:42.04 respectively. All three teams ran inside the previous record. "It's a deeper event than the men's right now," said Tar Heel head coach Chris Miltenberg.
The 130th Penn Relays drew a Saturday crowd of 47,318 across both the championship of America and high-school sessions, the second-highest single-day attendance in the meet's history. Texas A&M's 4×400 victory in 3:01.59 closed the championship of America programme, with the women's race going to LSU in 3:25.78 — the third-fastest time ever run at the meet. Field and high-school records also fell across the long jump, javelin and shot put.