Friday marked Day 2 of the 130th Penn Relays, and the Villanova men’s and women’s teams competed in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR).
The Villanova men’s DMR team finished second in a shoulder-to-shoulder finish, losing to Oregon. Junior Marco Langon anchored the relay in the 1,600-meter leg. However, his 49-second bell lap was not enough to defeat Simeon Birnbaum. Junior Dan Watcke had the fastest 800-meter split in school history at 1:44.25 during the men’s DMR.
The women’s DMR team claimed third place in 10:48.84. The team consisted of sophomore Rosie Shay, junior Olivia Allen, sophomore Bella Walsh and junior Tilly O’Connor. The men’s team consisting of junior Ben Thomas, senior Ethan Walls, Watcke, and Langon, ran 9:32.18 to claim second place.
“They learn to take the stress, the pressure, come out, and perform,” men’s head coach Marcus O’Sullivan said. “I think a lot of kids are doing it today, but I can tell you our team did it today, and I think they’ll just get stronger as time goes on.”
Thomas was the 1200-meter leadoff leg for the men, running a personal best split of 2:51.77. Next up, Walls ran the 400m split in 47.41. Watcke then grabbed the baton and managed to gain some ground, surpassing four different runners to move Villanova from sixth to fourth place. Langon ran the anchor split and crossed the finish at 4:08.75.
“Legacy is not important to me. I’m here to represent Villanova,” Langon said. “I’m just here to represent the school and do the best that I can. And once I start running professionally, then yeah, then I can start worrying about myself and the brand I’m represented by.”
In the women’s DMR, the wildcats were half a second from the school record of 10:48.38 from the 1988 Penn Relays. For 2026, at the 1200-meter leg for the women, Shay ran a personal best split of 3:27.66. Allen’s specialty of the 400-meter led to a split of 52.54.
“They understand what it’s like to run for Villanova in the pen relays,” women’s head coach Gina Procaccio said. “I’m just really proud of all of them.”
Walsh in the 800-meter leg, ran a personal best also in 2:03.97 to move Villanova up by two places into third.
Lastly, at the anchor was O’Connor running the final 1600-meter. O’Connor shaved two seconds off her personal best to cross the finish at 4:33.39.
“I feel like I knew that I’ve done it before so I can do it again,” O’Connor said. “I competed with the best runners in the country, so I decided to maintain my composure and run relaxed. I knew that I trust my training that it will get me there.”
Saturday concludes the three-day carnival. Villanova will have junior Malaika Cunningham in the high jump at 11:30 a.m.. Also tomorrow will be the women’s 4×1500-meter at 12:40 p.m. followed by the men’s 4xMile at 1:05 p.m. Saturday’s events can be streamed live on FloTrack.
