Sports
Pearl River Track Team to Compete at Penn Relays
The opening heats begin Thursday morning at Franklin Field in Philadelphia
The Pearl River High School girls track team began sending competitors to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, PA in 1979.
Once again a group of Lady Pirates will be making their way down the New Jersey Turnpike to venerable Franklin Field for an event that has been held annually since 1895.
Considered the oldest and largest track and field meet in the United States, the Penn Relays regularly attract more than 15,000 participants from high schools, colleges, and track clubs throughout North America and abroad. Attendance has been known to top 50,000 on the closing Saturday and set a record last year with a crowd of 54,000
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This year Pearl River will be competing in three events with opening heats will held Thursday. The Lady Pirates will be participating in the 4x100 meter relay, the 4x400 and the 4x800 with the hope that they can qualify for the finals on Friday. For those unfamiliar with the relay format, in each event each member of the four person team runs one leg of the relay at the specified distance.
Pearl River Coach Dan Doherty said that the girls, “Can expect a crowd of around 15,000 on Thursday. I bring them here for the competition, experience and to be exposed to the history of this event.
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“I just hope the kids don’t get too psyched out by the level of competition. I would like to see them rise to the level of the competition. And, of course, I hope for good weather.”
“It is exciting to be there and to see all the college people," said Margaret Moore, who will be competing in the Penn Relays for the third time. They are amazing to watch.”
The Pearl River schedule for Thursday including team members:
- 4x800 (Kerry Guerin, Kelly Hayes, Maria Kohlbrenner, Molly Shine) —10:30 AM
- 4x100 (Kayla Clohessy, Margaret Moore, Bridget Sorohan, Patricia Thornton) —11:30 a.m.
- 4x400 (Kayla Clohessy, Kelly Hayes, Molly Shine, Margaret Moore) —2:00 p.m.
For those fans who would like to watch the opening heats on Thursday, the action is available through Penn Relays TV on-line at www.ThePennRelays.com at the cost of $4.95. This is the official site of the event. Please note that the live feed does not come with an event schedule and only selected events will be broadcast live, so there is no guarantee that all races involving Pearl River will be shown live.
Editor's note: Updated with further details of the live broadcast.
