NC State's Leah Stephens, Kelsey Chmiel Run To 1-2 Finish In Women's 10,000 Meters; Notre Dame's Josh Methner Wins Men's 10,000

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

John Nepolitan photo

PHILADELPHIA – Defending NCAA Division 1 champion Savannah Sutherland of Michigan took down a 29-year-old meet record Thursday in the women’s championship 400-meter hurdles on the first night of racing the 128th Penn Relays, clocking 55.36 seconds for the win over Clemson’s Ken’Naria Gadson in 56.82 at Franklin Field.

Lade Akinremi of Arizona State held the previous meet record of 55.58 since the 1995 meet.

“It feels great,” Sutherland said. “It was good to get out here. It was my first time at Penn Relays and the atmosphere is really great, so that’s super exciting. I’ve been wanting to get out here for a couple of years, so I’m thankful to have finally been here.”

The Canadian Sutherland led wire-to-wire out of lane six, adding another win to her belt this season after opening up with an NCAA-leading 54.86 effort April 13 at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida.

Pittsburgh’s Devin Nugent ran away with the men’s 400 hurdles title, running 50.84.

North Carolina State freshman Leah Stephens completed her first collegiate 10,000 race, winning in 33:09.25 after racing in the 1,500 earlier in the day, finishing 22nd overall in 4:26.96.

“I honestly loved it,” Stephens said. “It was the same pace the whole way and we picked it up a little at the end. It was a lot of fun.”

Stephens’ teammate Kelsey Chmiel returned to racing for the first time since the ACC Cross Country Championships last fall, finishing second in 33:15.66. It was also the first 10,000 race for Chmiel since the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas, where she was eighth in 33:14.09

“I feel good,” Chmiel said. “I’m definitely really thankful to have Leah here…I think it was a good start.”

Georgetown’s Maggie Donahue ran a season best 33:16.90 to finish third behind Chmiel.

Notre Dame’s Joshua Methner pulled away from Hofstra’s Abraham Longosiwa and Eastern Kentucky’s Nikodem Dworczak in the end of the men’s 10,000 to win in 28:43.53.

Penn’s Olivia Morganti used the home-track advantage to pull off the win in the women’s 3,000 steeplechase in an NCAA Division 1 No. 11 9:57.94. Penn State’s Makenna Krebs finished second in 10:01.29 to rank No. 14 in the country.

Eastern Kentucky’s Kristian Imroth ran down North Carolina State’s Brett Gardner over the final barriers to win the men’s steeplechase title by a margin of 8:35.32 to 8:36.23. Imroth moves to No. 10 in the country, with Gardner behind him at No. 11.

Rider’s Teagan Schein-Becker held off Ohio State’s Aniya Mosley to win the women’s 1,500 in 4:09.87 for No. 11 in the country.

Collin Gilstrap of Stony Brook closed in 54.79 seconds to cross the finish line in 3:42.53 to win the men’s 1,500.

Elon’s Jette Beermann withstood Northwestern’s Ava Earl over the final 200 meters to run a 25-second lifetime best effort in the women’s 5,000 to win in 15:42.30.

North Carolina’s Will Coogan took the men’s title in 13:52.60, outkicking Youngstown State’s Hunter Christopher in 13:53.37.

In the only collegiate field competition of the day, Harvard’s Kenneth Ikeji bested his own meet record in the men’s hammer championship field, throwing 243 feet, 3 inches (74.15m) to win a second consecutive Penn Relays title.

Clemson’s Marie Forbes struggled early on in prelims of the women’s hammer competition but managed to bounce back in finals with a fourth-round throw of 208-3 (63.49m) to beat out Penn State’s Samaria McDonald’s throw of 204-8 (62.39m).

On the high school side, Pennsylvanian’s Avery Lewis of Friends’ Central and Veronica Vacca of Mount Saint Joesph Academy each won their third Penn Relays title in their respective events.

Lewis took home the girls long jump title with a jump of 19-8.75 (6.01m).

Vacca cleared 13-3 (4.04m) to win the girls pole vault competition.

Layla Giordano from NV Old Tappan of New Jersey won the girls discus championship by over 10 feet with a throw of 167-10 (51.17m).

Wolmer’s Girls teammates Shaniqua Williams and Danielle Noble out of Jamaica went 1-2 in the girls high jump championship, with Williams winning with a 5-8 (1.73m) clearance and Noble in second, also at 5-8.

Jessica Oji of Livingston NJ prevailed in the girls shot put championship, throwing 46-4 (14.12m).

Taysha Stubbs of Queens College of the Bahamas used a sixth-round throw of 154-9 (47.17m) to capture the girls javelin championship over Omaha Burke’s Sophia Scott of Nebraska, who threw 146-11 for second. 

Jade-Ann Dawkins from Jamaica’s St. Jago jumped 42-8.25 (13.01m) to win the girls triple jump championship.

The Bullis MD girls ran 3:41.60 and were one of four American teams that advanced to Friday's finals in the Championship of America High School 4x400 relay. Union Catholic and Timber Creek of New Jersey and St. John's College of D.C. also made it through.