First Thoughts: Maia Ramsden Splits 4:21 in Historic DMR Effort, Liam Murphy's Kick Gives Villanova Two Penn Relays Titles & Drama in the Women's 4x800m

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Apr 27, 2024
12 min read

The last weekend in April is a fairly unusual one when it comes to analyzing results. There are only a small handful of meets that hold the best names in the country -- the Penn Relays, Drake Relays and Payton Jordan Invitational -- and it seems as though everyone else decides to stay on the down-low.

But while the results may not be as plentiful, there was still multiple performances that deserved our attention and analysis. And today, we're chatting about what we saw at the Penn Relays (don't worry, we have more analysis coming tomorrow or Monday).

Oh, and sure to check out our latest First Thoughts article by clicking here!

Alright, let's get right into it...

Harvard Women Run 10:37 in DMR as Maia Ramsden Splits 4:21 at Penn Relays

When I was making my predictions for the Penn Relays, I opted to choose the Harvard women as my overall winners for the Championship of America DMR for two reasons.

The first was because Victoria Bossong has been incredible in recent months. And when she is firing on all cylinders, the Crimson owned one of the most complete lineups in this field. The second, and arguably more important, reason was because Maia Ramsden still dons a Harvard singlet. The Ivy League star has been an unstoppable miler over the last year and as long as she was close enough to the leaders when she got the baton, I trusted that the Kiwi ace would bring her team a Penn Relays wheel.

Of course, what I didn't expect was for the Harvard women to run a jaw-dropping DMR mark of 10:37 to secure the overall win behind a 4:21 anchor split from Maia Ramsden to take down a sub-10:40 effort from Providence.

Everyone on this relay was incredible. Sophia Gorriaran was relentless on the lead-off leg even if the leaders got away from her. Chloe Fair quietly made up a good bit of ground on the leaders on her 400-meter leg. Victoria Bossong was outstanding as she split 2:02 on the 800-meter leg to give the baton to Ramsden less than one second behind Providence.

And when Ramsden got the baton, it was essentially game over given her 4:21 split.

Coach Alex Gibby has been flat-out incredible with his women's team. He has developed and recruited some of the finest names in the country. He has produced one of the best collegiate milers we've ever seen. He has refined Victoria Bossong into an All-American threat in the middle distances. He was also able to land Sophia Gorriaran, one of the most sought-after recruits in the country.

As for Ramsden's split, I'd like to tell you that I'm surprised, but...I'm not. This New Zealand megastar simply looks unstoppable, at least at the NCAA level. I don't know how anyone in the collegiate realm could possibly beat her in the metric mile. She can defeat you with a last lap kick and she is aerobically strong enough to hang with any aggressive pace thrown at her, something that she proved by tailing Kimberley May on Friday afternoon.

Speaking of May, we have to give the Providence women some major credit. You could argue that they were the best team in this field through each of their four legs. They were consistently at the front of this field and that can largely be attributed to Shannon Flockhart splitting 3:15 for 1200 meters.

Of course, Kimberley May splitting 4:23 on her anchor leg is the main headliner for the Friars. We've seen her employ aggressive front-running tactics before and I don't mind that she tried to be aggressive yet again, especially knowing that Ramsden was less than a second behind.

When this era of elite women's milers concludes their time in the NCAA and we reflect on their impact, we will undoubtedly think of Maia Ramsden first. However, Kimberley May will very much deserve to be part of that same conversation.

As for a few others, you gotta give the Virginia women a lot of props. The Cavaliers had a complete lineup with each woman being a perfect fit their respective legs. Placing Margot Appleton on the lead-off leg was an interesting choice, but I didn't hate it, either. Given how well Anna Workman has run in the mile, ensuring that the UVA women were in the mix when she got the baton, in retrospect, makes sense.

The Washington women held their own, placing 4th overall, but I did think that they were capable of running a bit faster. Chloe Foerster didn't look comfortable (at all) in this race, but if she was still able to split 4:33.96 despite not having her best day, then I think that's actually a good thing. And frankly, it's best to get an "off" day out of the way now rather than in the postseason.

TCU was the 5th place team in large part due to Gracie Morris dropping an outstanding 4:29 split! I had mentioned in our meet preview that the Horned Frogs were a sneaky-good squad and that Morris had been running exceptionally well as of late. Even so, I don't think I expected her to run that well, especially given how far back she was when she got the baton.

Liam Murphy Gives Villanova Men Wins in DMR & 4xMile

Last year, Liam Murphy was out-kicked at the Penn Relays in the DMR, settling for a runner-up finish behind Adam Spencer and the Wisconsin Badgers. Of course, Murphy would come back the next day to put down a winning kick of his own to give the Wildcats gold in the 4xMile relay.

But 2024? Well, this time, there was no need for redemption.

On Friday, Liam Murphy battled with Virginia's Gary Martin and Georgetown's Abel Teffra in the final moments of the men's DMR. In the final lap, it was Teffra leading the way. And for a moment, it looked like he may have gotten the perfect jump on his competition. However, as the pack came off the curve, Murphy hugged Teffra's shoulder and then surged past the Hoya ace to give Villanova their first Penn Relays wheel of the weekend.

But wait, there's more!

We saw almost the exact same scenario in the men's 4xMile relay on Saturday.

In a race which, yet again, featured Murphy, Teffra and Martin, multiple moves were made to take Murphy's lead position from him. However, the Villanova star fought off every challenge thrown his way. And with another big-time kick over the final 200 meters, Murphy was able to keep his challengers at bay to secure gold.

So...what does this all mean?

Well, it means that Murphy not only has one of the best kicks in the NCAA (which we already knew), but that his kick has gotten even better since last year. In on race, he swung off the curve in a classic slingshot move and charged past the guy ahead of him. But in the other race, he took the lead and held his position in almost identical fashion to what we saw from Luke Houser in the mile finals at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

I would go as far to say that this weekend at the Penn Relays boosts Murphy stock more than his 3:36 (1500) PR at the Bryan Clay Invitational did. He is not only one of the most dynamic runners across all distance events, but he can also seemingly handle any race scenario thrown at him as well.

For as much as we like Gary Martin and Abel Teffra (two men who we view as underrated names), Murphy is going to have even greater late-race challenges once he reaches the postseason. Still, his recent display of turnover was a massively encouraging sign.

But more importantly, how about Villanova's 4xMile relay in general? The slowest split on that relay was 4:00 and everyone else ran under four minutes. With Murphy's 3:54 split, Villanova ran 15:51, an NCAA record and the second-fastest mark ever produced in the event.

Oh, and by the way, the only relay that now sits ahead of the Villanova men featured a certain runner named Marcus O'Sullivan, the Wildcats' head coach.

On paper, Virginia was largely Villanova's equal in the 4xMile as their splits mostly matched throughout the race. However, maybe even more interestingly, the team that had all four of their men run under 4:00 didn't even crack the top-two!

The Georgetown men were excellent as every runner went 3:59 or faster. I gained so much respect for Abel Teffra after seeing how gutsy and poised he was in critical moments. And yes, I didn't predict the Hoyas to finish in the top-five, but the entries didn't initially show that Abel Teffra, their best miler, was in this race.

It's one thing for Villanova to run 15:51, but that doesn't happen without Virginia and Georgetown making this race so fast on all four legs. These teams deserve major kudos.

When it comes to the DMR, there isn't a whole lot to discuss. This was a fairly tactical race, especially at the end, and no one in particular ran out of their minds. However, having freshman Dan Watcke split 1:48 on the 800-meter leg of Villanova's DMR was huge for putting Liam Murphy in a good position.

Yes, Murphy may have brought home gold, but there is an argument that, relative to expectations, Watcke was the most impactful name in this lineup.

Both Oregon and Duke ran fairly well. Rheinhardt Harrison was quietly great on the lead-off leg for the Ducks and Matthew Erickson's 1:47 split on the 800-meter will fall under the radar despite no other runner in the field going under 1:48. As for Duke, it wasn't the flashiest relay, but everyone was solid and Ryan Wilson was in the hunt going into that last lap.

NC State Women Outrun 4x1500m Field to Earn Statement Win at Penn Relays

Did I think that the NC State women could win this race? Yes.

Did I predict that the NC State would win this race? No.

On paper, I felt that both Virginia and Penn State were flat-out better teams, at least when you look at their metric mile times. Make no mistake, the Wolfpack had plenty of great talents of their own, but the Nittany Lions and Cavaliers each had four established women who had proven in varying magnitudes that they could be impact names in this race.

And yet, it was the NC State women who simply proved to be stronger.

Both Penn State and Virginia put up a fight, and the Nittany Lions looked like they could realistically win this race on the third leg. However, having both Kileigh Kane and Florence Caron double back from the 1500 meters on Thursday night certainly wasn't going to help them run fast on Saturday. The Virginia women also had a big race in their legs after a few women doubled back from the DMR.

But it was the Wolfpack women who were freshest and that showed on the third leg as Hannah Gapes, the main hero of NC State's effort, established a gap that no other team in the field could match. From there, Sam Bush anchored her team home to a very comfortable win.

Without splits, it's hard to really evaluate how certain woman performed. Even so, Gapes really boosted her stock. She was in a big-time race and made a decisive move that more or less gave NC State the win. Funny enough, Gapes was the main woman on NC State's relay that I felt was the biggest wild card.

I admittedly don't have much to say about Virginia and Penn State. Again, I thought they would be more competitive for the win, but they also had multiple races under their legs. Although, even if they were fresh, I don't know if the Cavaliers or Nittany Lions would have been able to make up the five to second-second gap that NC State put on them.

Also, great run by the Wisconsin women. I felt like they were one of the more underrated lineups in this field and they proved that by earning a strong 4th place finish. Yes, they admittedly found themselves in "no man's land" by the end of the race, but they were closer to the top teams than the next-best relays.

Sam Whitmarsh Splits 1:45 (800) as Texas A&M Defeats Oregon for 4x800m Win at Penn Relays

From a time perspective, no team in the men's 4x800-meter relay had a runner who was as strong as Sam Whitmarsh. The Texas A&M standout had proven pedigree and had posted a monster 1:44 (800) PR earlier this season.

In other words, all that the Aggie men had to do in this race was give Whitmarsh the baton within striking distance of the leaders. And thankfully for him, they did just that.

The first leg of this race was oddly tactical with the fastest split being 1:51 and seven teams failing to run under 1:52. In my eyes, that was very disadvantageous for Texas A&M. With a high-octane lead-off runner such as Kimar Farquharson (who has run 1:46 multiple times), the Aggies weren't able to get the time differential edge on the rest of the field that they likely thought they could. Not only that, but Virginia's Alex Leath was brilliant, taking over the lead with a great kick in the final 100 meters.

Thankfully for the men of College Station, both Caden Norris (1:48) and Cooper Cawthra (1:49) did exactly what was needed of them. Neither of those men needed to blow the field away or run in the 1:47 range. However, both men did need to split under 1:50 and keep Texas A&M within reach of the leaders -- and that's exactly what happened.

But make no mistake, Sam Whitmarsh wasn't at all handed the win. The towering half-miler in maroon still had a lot of work to do to catch Oregon's Matthew Erickson. With him, he brought Georgetown's Tinoda Matsatsa who initially hung on fairly well before faltering.

However, maybe the most impressive part about Whitmarsh's race is that his competition was still on his heels with 200 meters. But once he turned on the jets, no one could match his stride nor his eventual one-and-a-half-second lead.

Whitmarsh should leave this weekend with a lot of positives. The Texas A&M star split 1:45-low which somewhat validates his monster 1:44 (800) PR from earlier this season. Not only that, but he was able to run tactically and pull away from a very strong field despite being so aggressive in the first-half of his split.

We already viewed Whitmarsh as a national title contender, but Saturday's performance further solidified that status for him.

The Oregon men deserve major kudos for how they performed. Rheinhardt Harrison splitting 1:47 on the second leg of this relay was massive. It's been a while since we've seen the former high school superstar toe the line and be truly competitive, partially due to injuries. But the month of April has suggested otherwise for this Florida native.

Harrison ran 3:41 for 1500 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational and split an 800-meter time that opened up this relay for the Ducks to be in contention to win. That didn't happen, and they instead had to settle for runner-up, but seeing Harrison healthy and firing on all cylinders is a major win.

Georgetown's Tim McInerney (1:47) continues to validate my theory that he is one of the most reliable half-milers in the NCAA. Virginia's Alex Leath ran like a veteran on the lead-off leg to put the Cavalier men in front. The Villanova men were great across the board, but Jamie Moreland splitting 1:48 was really impressive for a former D3 guy (even if he had run 1:49 multiple times before).

Drama Ensues as Providence Women Drop Baton in Final Moments of 4x800m Battle, Washington Earns Victory

Because what's Penn Relays without some late-race drama?

The Providence women were the leaders of this race through the first three legs after their lead-off runner, Alex O'Neill, put a fairly large gap on the field. And with Kimberley May splitting 2:02, it was going to be hard for another team to make up that gap.

But the Washington women slowly chipped away at the Friars' lead on the third leg as Samantha Friborg was excellent, earning a 2:02 split of her own. And from there, it was up to Chloe Foerster to catch up to Shannon Flockhart on the anchor leg.

Sure enough, Foerster and Flockhart ended being shoulder-to-shoulder with 200 meters to go. And as they hit the final stretch, the two mile stars were still neck-and-neck. However, with 50 meters to go (maybe less) Flockhart dropped the baton after potentially tangling arms with Foerster.

Flockhart would cross the line without the baton, seemingly showing confusion as to what happened. However, the Friars would ultimately be disqualified and Washington was given the win in an NCAA record time of 8:17.28.

Regardless of the final result, this was an incredible effort for both teams.

Alex O'Neill looked like a borderline star in her effort with the separation that she was able to get on the lead-off leg and Kimberley May's 2:02 split may fall under the radar despite being really impressive. Overall, Providence was not a team that I expected to be in contention for winning this race, especially after posting a 10:39 mark in the DMR the day before.

Washington, meanwhile, not only got a 2:02 split from Chloe Foerster, but they also got a 2:02 split from Samantha Friborg! The Yale graduate transfer has been great since joining the Huskies and she is a major reason why this team was battling for the win in the final moments of this race. As for Foerster, I loved that she ran something quick after struggling on the DMR the night before. That's great resilience for a sophomore.

I also gotta give some love to Duke, a team that I specifically highlighted as a team to watch in this race. Sure, they were a ways back from the leaders, but they still secured silver (after the Providence DQ). Plus, Duke joined Washington (and presumably Providence if they had not been DQ'd) as the only teams in the field to have all four women split under 2:10.

How about Charlotte Tomkinson? The Blue Devil talent has always had a ton of upside and potential, but we're finally beginning to see that this spring. After running 4:15 (1500) and 2:03 (800) earlier this season, the Duke athlete recorded the fastest split on her relay (2:05). Be sure to keep an eye on her at the East Regional Championships -- she could be in store for a better-than-expected performance.