Complete Penn Relays Schedule & Results

Detroit Schedule at Penn Relays

Hillsdale "GINA" Relays Information

Eleven University of Detroit Mercy athletes will represent the red, white and blue at the prestigious Penn Relays, one of the best-attended track and field meets in the world, from Thursday through Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

The Titans are making their second trip to the Penn Relays, after having previously competed in 1999.

Senior thrower Brittany Horne (Okemos, MI/Okemos) will be the first Titan in action as she takes part in the women's college hammer throw Championships of America invitational flight, made up of the meet's top entries, at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. Horne enters the event ranked 30th nationally in the event with a season and career-best mark of 188-7. LSU's Kim Williams holds the top mark in the field with a distance of 195-9.

Horne will be busy Thursday, competing in the shot put and discus throw as well, which will take place at 2:15 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., respectively.

Junior Pat Liederbach (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey) will be in action Thursday night in the college men's 5,000 meter championship at 9:35 p.m. Liederbach has run the 5,000 just once outdoors this season, clocking a 15:01.67 at the Bison Outdoor Classic, but is the UDM record holder in the event with a time of 14:32.85.

On Friday the relay fun begins, where the baton will continue to be passed around the track until the end of the Penn Relays on Saturday evening, and the Titans will be sending out six relay teams.

In both the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays, senior Deonte Osayande (Detroit, MI/Winans Academy), sophomore Vushaun Landrum (Windsor, ON/Sandwich Secondary), senior Samuel Jones (Detroit, MI/U-D Jesuit) and sophomore Earnest Cleary (Detroit, MI/Ferndale) will run as a squad. Osayande and Jones will also run in the 4x400 meter relay, along with Kevin Wozniak (Dearborn, MI/Edsel Ford) and either junior Matt Mahler (Thorold, ON/Denis Morris Catholic) or freshman Chris Smalley (Gladwin, MI/Gladwin).

The 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays on Friday are all qualifying heats. The top eight teams will earn spots in the college men's Championships of America heats on Saturday, while the next eight fastest will compete Saturday in the college finals.

Also in action Friday will be the foursome of senior Alex Gould (Comstock Park, MI/Comstock Park), junior Lesley Hanna (Exuma, Bahamas/Coakley), Mahler and Liederbach in the Distance Medley Championship of America. Later in the evening, Landrum, Cleary, Hanna and Smalley will run together in the Sprint Medley Championship of America, consisting of 400, 200, 200 and 800 meter legs.

And on Saturday the squad of Smalley, Gould, Mahler and Wozniak will each run two laps around the track in the 4x800 Championship of America.

The 2010 Penn Relays include over 22,000 athlete entries, and the meet has boasted an average Saturday attendance of 48,000 fans over the last six years. This year's meet, in addition to featuring college, high school, Olympic Development, open, masters, youth, junior, disabled and Special Olympics competition, is also hosting the USA vs. the World challenge where elite American runners will take on the best the world has to offer and will include an appearance by the world-record holding Jamaican men's 4x100 meter relay team and Usain Bolt.

A complete schedule of events and updated results throughout the meet can be found HERE, and a schedule of Detroit's events can be found HERE.

The rest of the UDM track and field squads will be in action closer to home this weekend, heading to Hillsdale, MI, for the Hillsdale College “GINA” Relays from Thursday through Saturday, April 22-24. Event information can be found HERE.