The Villanova women -- two freshman and two juniors -- led at each exchange and Emily Lipari charged back on over the final forty meters to pip Oregon's anchor Laura Roesler at the line to win the Penn Relays 4x800 relay and set a new NCAA record of 8:17.45. Oregon, which also broke the existing NCAA record, had to settle for second place.
| PL | School/Affiliation | Mark | Athletes | ID | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Villanova | 8:17.45 | Kelsey Margey (2:07.04), Angel Piccirillo (2:04.12), Nicky Akande (2:04.04), Emily Lipari (2:02.25) | AD | |||||
| 2 |  Oregon | 8:17.62 | Becca Friday (2:07.72), Annie Leblanc (2:04.98), Anne Kesselring (2:02.74), Laura Roesler (2:02.19) | AA | |||||
| 3 |  LSU | 8:19.43 | Samantha Levin (2:11.28), Natoya Goule (2:00.39), Nikita Tracey (2:05.59), Charlene Lipsey (2:02.19) | AC | |||||
| 4 |  Michigan | 8:25.95 | Meg Bellino (2:08.86), Jillian Smith (2:05.18), Danielle Pfeifer (2:07.16), Rebecca Addison (2:04.77) | AG | |||||
| 5 |  Georgetown | 8:27.15 | Deseree King (2:11.16), Chelsea Cox (2:01.62), Andrea Keklak (2:06.82), Katrina Coogan (2:07.57) | AE | |||||
| 6 |  Princeton | 8:27.26 | Kacie O'Neil (2:09.28), Greta Feldman (2:03.15), Cecilia Barowski (2:07.55), Alexis Mikaelian (2:07.29) | AH | |||||
| 7 |  Tennessee | 8:27.54 | Brittney Jackson (2:08.77), Kianna Ruff (2:04.90), Alexis Panisse (2:06.40), Nijgia Snapp (2:07.48) | AB | |||||
| 8 |  Duke | 8:40.96 | Rebecca Craigie (2:12.52), Cydney Ross (2:04.76), Anima Banks (2:10.03), Abby Farley (2:13.67) | AF | |||||
| 9 |  Maryland | 8:44.24 | Maryam Fikri (2:11.88), Myah Hicks (2:08.25), Emily VandeWater (2:12.88), Julie Sinkovitz (2:11.24) | AP | |||||
| 10 |  J. Madison | 8:46.16 | Tiel Westbrook (2:11.83), Annie Reiner (2:10.41), Kelsey Langton (2:12.71), Erin Lopresti (2:11.23) | AL | |||||
| 11 |  Fordham | 8:48.06 | Kristen Stuart (2:12.67), Titi Fagade (2:10.15), Melissa Higgins (2:11.48), Mara Lieberman (2:13.78) | AJ | |||||
| 12 |  Albany | 8:48.83 | Sherez Mohamed (2:11.78), Kathryn Fanning (2:10.08), Brianne Bellon (2:12.82), Mackenzie Carter (2:14.16) | AN | |||||
| 13 |  Indiana | 9:07.49 | Brie Roller, Jordan Gray, Kelsey Duerksen, Ashley Seymour | AM |
Kelsey Margey
“It means the world [to win here] because we’re Villanova and this race is in our backyard. There is a huge emphasis on this meet. It’s such a special event to have the crowd cheering for you when you’re running. It was amazing. It was the best race I had in college. It means the world [to win as part of a team]…It’s something I’ll remember forever.”
Angel Piccirillo
“It was just last year that I was here in high school (She won the 2011 and 2010 H.S. girl’s mile for Homer Center H.S.). It’s a completely different thing to come here as a team…It’s just incredible. It’s a completely different game. It’s something extra special to come here and win as an individual. It’s even better than as an individual…It’s very different, but it’s very sweet also.”
Nicky Akande
“I think it was rough not winning [the 4x1500] yesterday, so we just wanted to come back with a vengeance. I think this was such a team effort…We have two freshman that literally gave everything for us, and [Emily and I] couldn’t help but do the same. I saw them hurting, and I saw them hurting two. I knew that if we all ran our best, we could do it…It was just such a team effort. To come back after not coming out on top [yesterday], …to bring it home was just amazing.”
Emily Lipari
“You have two choices as a runner (after their defeat yesterday in the 4x1500): You can sit there and feel sorry for yourself and let it affect the next day, or we could use [our defeat] and get our team all fired up and get ourselves to believe that we could do it…It was so incredible to watch these two freshmen step it up…I am so proud of them. All I could see in front of me (on the home stretch) was that green and yellow (Oregon jersey)…We’re all extremely happy. We’re going to enjoy this [victory] for a little bit…I’m a very different person now than I was in high school (she was the high school girl’s mile champion for Roslyn H.S. in 2010), and sure, it was great to win [in high school], but I didn’t have much of a team in high school. When you come to Villanova, it’s all about the relays…It’s just so great to wear Villanova across your chest…I wouldn’t trade any of these memories or experiences for anything in the world…It’s all about guts. It’s all about heart. Whoever [Oregon] was going to put on that leg didn’t matter to me because these three girls totally set the tone for the race.”
Gina Procaccio
“I can’t even believe it. This is the first 4x800 that I even entered in The Penn Relays as a head coach…It’s one of my favorite relays, and we just haven’t had one in about fifteen years. And I was just so excited that we even put together a 4x800 [team]. I knew their splits on paper, and I told them, ‘You can do it. It’s the last day. Anything can happen’…This was such a team effort. We had two freshmen (Angel Piccirillo and Kelsey Margey) on the first two legs, and The Penn Relays is such a big deal for Villanova… I can’t believe it. It was so amazing. A collegiate record! Never in a million years would I have expected this [win and collegiate record]”
Emily Lipari
when asked how she had that extra push in the last few yards to get across the finish line firstIts all about heart to get to the next level. My transition from high school to college was easy but I had to get my head screwed on right to get to the next level. My coaches always told us to just go out there and compete. We can finally say we are competing.
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| Lipari pips Roesler to win Penn Relays 4x800 in a new NCAA record |
