Your 2014 womens 4x1500 Penn Relays Champions!!!! pic.twitter.com/aFlu4yreSb
— Villanova Track & XC (@NovaTrackXC) April 25, 2014
The Villanova women claimed their second victory of the 2014 Penn Relays as the Lady 'Cats won the 4x1500 thanks to Emily Lipari out-kicking Stanford's Aisling Cuffe for the second consecutive day.
After claiming the Distance Medley on Thursday, the foursome of Stephanie Schappert (4:22.3), Angel Piccirillo (4:17.4), Nicky Akande (4:20.4), and Lipari (4:16.4) won the Championship of America in 17:16.52; a mere .22 seconds ahead of Stanford.
Lipari noted, "When you come here you just get a lot of Villanova support and you hear everybody in the stands, every corner you hear people screaming for Villanova."
This is 'Nova's 9th victory in the history of the event, but the first since 2000. Head coach Gina Procaccio said, "That was kinda one of my first Penn Relay win and a couple draught years and ya know we're known as being middle distance runners 8x1500 meter runners so for us not to win this event in that many years you know, kinda really bothered me a bit. The girls understood that. Like I said, they all know what Villanova's about and legacy. They just went out and did their job, leg for leg."
The team component was echoed by Lipari, "it's just not fair to think like that because these girls put everything on the line so I can't afford to think like that when they worked their butts off and I'm just gonna give it up," as the Villanovan outkicked the Stanford runner in the last 50 meters of the race.
"So I had to believe it the whole way."
Highlights
Complete Results
| PL | SCHOOL/AFFILIATION | MARK | ATHLETES | ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Villanova | 17:16.5 | Stephanie Schappert (4:22.3), Angel Piccirillo (4:17.4), Nicky Akande (4:20.4), Emily Lipari (4:16.4) | AB |
| 2 | Stanford | 17:16.7 | Claudia Saunders (4:22.6), Amy Weissenbach (4:17.4), Jessica Tonn (4:20.1), Aisling Cuffe (4:16.6) | AC |
| 3 | Dartmouth | 17:20.9 | Abby Markowitz (4:27.4), Dana Giordano (4:16.4), Margaret Donovan (4:29.1), Abbey D'Agostino (4:08.0) | AE |
| 4 | New Mexico | 17:35.3 | Not provided | AI |
| 5 | Columbia | 17:56.6 | Olivia Sadler (4:24.4), Waverly Neer (4:22.0), Anna Williams (4:33.5), Trina Bills (4:36.7) | AH |
| 6 | Georgetown | 18:02.8 | Hannah Neczypor (4:26.6), Haley Pierce (4:31.3), Annamarie Maag (4:27.5), Kirsten Kasper (4:37.4) | AD |
| 7 | Mississippi State | 18:08.4 | Rhianwedd Price (4:22.8), Katie Huston (4:32.9), Cornelia Griesche (4:28.9), Emma Neigel (4:43.9) | AM |
| 8 | Tennessee | 18:13.5 | Amirah Johnson (4:24.0), Chelsea Blaase (4:38.8), Kelsey Kane (4:38.3), Alexis Panisse (4:32.4) | AF |
| DNF | Texas A&M | DNF | Hillary Montgomery, Grace Fletcher, Ashley Chamberlain, Katie Willard | AN |
| DNF | Indiana | DNF | Not provided | AP |
| DNF | UConn | DNF | Emily Durgin (4:27.4), Abby Mace (4:53.9), Lauren Sara (4:36.1), Lisa Zimmer | AR |