PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Navy track and field teams will head into the Patriot League Outdoor Championships on a high note following multiple top-10 performances at the Penn Relays Thursday through Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa.
 
Highlighting the meet was the women's 4x800m team of Alex Wercinski, Ellie Abraham, McKenna Brophy and Kayla McGuire. The squad broke the program record with a time of 8:44.34 to place ninth in the championship race. The time beat the previous record by 1.11, which was posted by Annie-Norah Beveridge, Shannon Cuthbert, Mansfield Murph and Jess Palacio at the 2012 Patriot League Championship.
 
"This was a tremendous opportunity for the team to showcase itself at a world-class venue. For this group to experience the Penn Relays in its 128th year was fantastic. The women's 4x800m relay team breaking a 12-year school record was very impressive. A huge compliment to coach (Kim) Lewnes and (Susan) Molloy for putting all the work in. When you see things like that and the team's excitement it's very rewarding," said Director of Track and Field / Cross Country Jamie Cook. "We had multiple really good performances from the both 4x100m, 4x400m and distance medley relay teams as well. We didn't race in the finals in all the races to keep our kids rested for next week. Jia (Anderson) and Brahmir (Vick) both competed in finals in their respective hurdle events and that was a great experience for both of them. We're going into Monday now preparing for conference next week. It's a big meet, but we prepare for every competition like it's a big meet. We want to be sure we're giving our kids the best to do well and we now need to figure out where to put them in terms of entries."
 
The Mids recorded an additional eight top-time 10s during the three-day meet, all of which met IC4A / ECAC qualifying standards.
 
Mia-Claire Kezal, Josephine Zink, Katelyn Pepin and Sophie Compton combined to win the college distance medley relay with a time of 11:28.03. The finish ranks second all-time in Navy history.
 
Additionally, Zink and McGuire aided Kylie Bedard and Taylor Woodworth in the college 4x400m relay. The squad won the preliminary race with a qualifying time of 3:46.35.
 
The men's distance medley relay team of Luke Nester, Greyson Gravitt, Carson Sloat and Sam Keeny finished in seventh place in the championship event by posting the sixth-fastest time in team history (9:41.70).
 
Sloat and Gravitt also ran in the 4x800m relay with Tate Frost and Garrett Baublitz. The Mids placed 10th in the championship race with a qualifying time of 7:34.73.
 
Nathan Kent, Jay Evans, David Walker and Jacques Guillaume took ninth place in the 4x400m relay championship preliminaries. The quartet compiled the second-best time in program history at 3:06.98.
 
Marcel Jackson, Jonah Johnson, Nico Gonzalez-Reed and Tyler Yurich represented Navy in the 4x100m relay championship preliminaries. They recorded a qualifying time of 41.35 to place 21st.
 
The women's 4x100m relay unit of Caroline Rey, Mayu Gayton, Isabella Romasko and Jia Anderson finished in seventh place in the college preliminaries race by posting a qualifying time of 46.84.
 
Anderson also competed in the 100m hurdle championship. She qualified for the finals on Friday with a ninth-place finish in 13.71. Her time ranks third in school history. Anderson crossed the finish line with the fourth-fastest time in Navy history (13.72) to finish eighth overall in the finals on Saturday.  
 
Brahmir Vick compiled a pair of top-10 times in the 110m hurdle championship. He advanced to the finals by clocking in the second-best time in team history at 13.70 to place fourth. He then garnered a fifth-place finish in the finals with a time of 13.74. The time stands at fifth all-time in program history.
 
Jackson Nguyen had a career performance in the 10,000m championship. He recorded the eighth-fastest finish in school history at 29:40.49 to take 11th place.
 
Joe Reimann (8:59.67) and Tom Fodor (9:06.42) both ended with qualifying times in the 3,000m steeplechase championship to place 16th and 20th, respectively.
 
Max Girardet (57th place) led the group of Mids in the 5,000m championship with a qualifying time of 14:35.80.
 
Joshua Boamah competed in the shot put, discus and hammer throw championships. His top placement was a sixth-place effort in the discus with a qualifying mark of 54.17m (177' 8"). He placed ninth in shot put and hammer throw with qualifying distances of 17.45m (57' 3") and 62.28m (204' 4"), respectively.
 
Collin Greene also totaled three qualifying marks in Philadelphia. He earned third place in the college shot put (17.03m / 55' 10.5"), seventh place in the college hammer throw (57.62m / 189' 0") and 15th place in the college discus (47.85m / 157' 0").
 
Dane Vernor's qualifying distance of 54.53m (178' 11") helped him finish in 18th place in the college hammer throw.
 
Jordynn Hutchinson placed in the top five in two of her events. She posted a hammer throw mark of 55.67m (182' 7") to take fourth place in the college competition. Additionally, she placed fifth in the college discus with a distance of 46.60m (152' 11"). Both of her throws met qualifying standards.
 
Braden Presser (59.34m / 194' 8") and Renny Murphy (43.17m / 141' 7") both recorded qualifying marks in their respective javelin events. Presser placed eighth in the men's championship, while Murphy claimed a ninth-place finish in the women's championship.
 
Sheldon Ulmer led the way in the jump events by placing fourth in the college high jump with a qualifying height of 2.06m (6' 9").
 
The additional qualifying mark in the jumps was posted by Sebasteon Allen. He took 10th place in the triple jump with a distance of 14.21m (46' 7.5").
 
The Mids will head to Lewisburg, Pa., to compete in the Patriot League Outdoor Championship next Friday (9 a.m.) and Saturday (8:45 a.m.). Navy will look to sweep the outdoor meet for the sixth-consecutive time it has been held.