(l-r) Sarah Bowman, Rolanda Bell, Phoebe Wright, and Chanelle Price
The Penn Relays Carnival announced its 2016 inductees to its Wall of Fame on Tuesday. The four individuals named were Charles Foster, Laura Gerraughty, John Overton, and Alan Webb.
The four relays selected were the 1966 Villanova men's DMR (Alan McCafferty, Bill Heidelberger, Ian Hamilton, Dave Patrick), the 1966 White Plains High School boys' 4x440 (Carl Reed, Dave Jackson, Larry James, Otis Hill), the 2004 Florida men's 4x400 (Sekou Clarke, Reggie Witherspoon, Stefan Pastor, Kerron Clement), and the 2009 Tennessee women's 4x1500 (Chanelle Price, Phoebe Wright, Sarah Bowman, Rolanda Bell).
As a high schooler, Webb ran the Relays' only sub-4:00 distance medley relay 1600 meter leg ever his junior year. His senior year, Webb anchored his South Lakes team to a still-standing Penn Relays high school DMR record of 9:59.66. Webb also won three Olympic Development races--the mile and 5K--at Penn as a professional.
Gerraughty, throwing for North Carolina, is still the only collegian ever to throw the shot put 60 feet at the Relays. Her 60-6 from 2004 is still the meet record. She also won the shot and disc as a pro in 2006.
Foster won the 120 yard hurdles three times, including an all-conditions relays record of 13.3 for North Carolina Central in 1974.
Overton anchored Yale to a DMR world record in 1915 (the first time the event was ever held) and to a college record in the 4x880 in 1916.
The '66 Villanova men and '66 White Plains boys ran in the last year of Franklin Field's cinder track. 'Nova won the DMR in a then-Carnival record of 9:46.4, and White Plains ran 3:17.9 in the mile relay. The White Plains squad missed a Carnival record by 0.7 seconds despite rain causing a muddy track.
The '04 Gator 4x4 still holds the meet record at 3:01.10. That's the fourth longest a Penn Relays 4x400 record has lasted.
Finally, the '09 Tennessee 4x1500 still holds the Penn Relays and collegiate records in the event. Their 17:08 clocking was the world record at the time and has only been beaten by American and Kenyan national squads.