PHILADELPHIA - The Team USA women's 4x100m relay put on a dominant show in a competitive edition of USA vs. the World at the Penn Relays on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Franklin Field played host to 48,531 fans and the first event of USA Track & Field's Outdoor Visa Championship Series as Team USA won three of six USA vs. The World races, Jamaica won two and Morocco won one.
The U.S. women made clear their intent to bring a world title back to America in the Visa Women's 4x100m relay. Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Myers and Carmelita Jeter posted a dominant performance, winning in a Penn Relays record time of 42.28, a 2011 world leader as well. They broke the Penn Relays record held since 2000 by Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Inger Miller, and Marion Jones, set at the first edition of USA vs. The World. The USA Blue team of Gloria Asumnu, Miki Barber, Biana Knight and Alex Anderson moved from third to second on Knight's third leg, finishing in 42.64. That left the Jamaican team of Kerron Stewart, Vanda Sherone Simpson, Aleen Bailey and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price third in 42.74.
The USA women put on a show in the Nike Women's 4x400m finishing 1-2 with Jamaica in third. Debbie Dunn and Dee Dee Trotter ran the lead legs to put USA Red and Blue in the lead, with Shericka Williams of Jamaica in third. Second legs Allyson Felix and Francena McCoroy pushed each other to extend the USA's lead over Jamaica. McCorory turned in the fastest split of the field in 49.8 and gave USA Blue a slight lead over USA Red. McCorory gave the stick to Keisha Baker, while Felix passed to Natasha Hastings, and the two ran shoulder to shoulder. Sanya Richards-Ross anchored the red team, running just a stride ahead of Monica Hargrove of USA Blue. While anchor Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica was able to close the gap with 200m to go, Richards-Ross and Hastings found another gear for the final straight to maintain the U.S.'s 1-2 lead. USA Red won in 3:22.92, followed by USA Blue in 3:23.17.
Jamaica broke their 3-3 tie with the United States in the women's sprint medley relay, the first USA vs. The World event to hit the track. Porscha Lucas put USA Red firmly in the lead after the first 200m leg, and La'Shauntea Moore held a roughly 3-meter lead for the Americans after the second 200. But on the third leg, Olympic and world champion 400m hurdler Melaine Walker immediately caught USA Red's Olympic silver medalist hurdler Sheena Tosta, then proceeded to gap the field by at least three meters.
At the handoff to the 800m anchor leg, Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica led USA Blue's Latavia Thomas, with USA Red's Phoebe Wright in third, at least five meters back. But Sinclair, who has run splits of 1:57 and change the last two years, gave Jamaica its fourth win by running her fastest USA vs. The World split of 1:57.06 to bring Jamaica home in 3:34.64. Wright, a six-time Championship of America winner at Penn while at the University of Tennessee, split 1:59.25 to move USA Red up to second in 3:37.81, and USA Blue was third in 3:43.17.
For complete results from USA vs. The World at the Penn Relays, visit www.thepennrelays.com
ATHLETE QUOTES - USA vs. the World at the Penn Relays
Kenia Sinclair, JAM, women's sprint medley anchor leg (800m): My teammates did well. They made it so much easier for me. The last 3 years I've been getting the baton in second place and third place. So this was much easier. I executed my race and hung on and decided we would get the victory. I knew I was in shape, so I was not surprised to run 1:57 today.
Melaine Walker, JAM, women's sprint medley 3rd leg (400m): I believe this is a big race for me this year. I remember last year when I came here I wasn't in tip-top shape and I ran an extremely bad race. This year I wanted to do a lot better than that. For some reason I believe I trained hard. All I needed to do is what. I ran the turn as hard as I can, I relaxed on the back straight away. I was able to come around strong, given my teammate a very good lead.
Lauryn Williams, USA women's 4x100 lead-off: I'm just really excited to be out here again in my home state of Pensylvania. I think I handled it well. I THINK IS my 9th or 10th Penn relays. The crowd gets you revved up, but I got out of the blocks to get the crowd quieted down.
Marshevet Myers, USA women's 4x100 third leg: I hadn't competed at Penn in a few years, and it was just as I remembered it. Great meet, great crowd, great races. I brought it in and gave it to her (Carmelita Jeter), pretty much ran the last 100 with her. We were really focused on trusting one another. It was evident today as we came out today. I think the new relay project is working very well.
Carmelita Jeter, USA women's 4x100 anchor: I'm always excited to be here. The crowd is so great. I was very excited to run. I'm definitely glad that we made it to the finish line first and broke the (Penn Relays) record. The most important thing is everybody came out of it healthy. It doesn't matter how many fast people you have on a relay, if you can't get that stick around, you're not going to break any records. For running this race for the first time together (as a lineup), it shows what we can do. I knew if we could get the stick around, we'd do something special.
Debbie Dunn, USA Red 4x400m 1st leg: It was a good day. I just wanted to give the team a good lead. It was my first race of the season. It was a rough start, but I held on.
Allyson Felix, USA Red 4x100m second leg and 4x400m I had the second leg: Rough also. But it's fun to come and be part of this team. The 4x100 was a fun race. I love to sprint. When I get the chance, I go all for it. I wanted to be part of that team and you always want to have a performance that can put you in consideration for that final team (at the World Outdoor Championships).
Natasha Hastings, USA Red third leg: Everybody came out to run. I ran my entire leg in the second lane and was glad to bring it home for Sanya.
Sanya Richards-Ross, USA Red 4x400m anchor leg: The Penn Relays is a great place to open your season. It was exciting. The most exciting part is we had eight ladies who showed up on the track and ran really, really well.
