Peddie coach Mark Gartner didn’t know all the teams that would be at the Penn Relays. He just knew that there would be a lot of them.
By:Kyle Moylan
A total of 17 teams squeezed on to the track for the Prep 4X400 at the Penn Relays. Even without knowing what his team was up against, Gartner knew there was only one way to approach this race.
“You have to redo your relay,” Gartner noted. “You have to put your fastest kid first. If you don’t get a good start, you get merged with 17 other teams. Someone with a good start can get you off and out of trouble.”
Peddie got that start and went on to win the race in a time of 3:27.46.
If anyone on the Peddie squad forgot the importance of a good start, they were reminded over and over and over and over again.
With 17 runners doing their best to cut inside at the start of the race to cut down on the distance they had to travel, there were several spills. The race had four false starts.
“I knew it would be crowded, but I didn’t know there would be so many false starts,” noted Russell Gagnon, who was given the responsibility of running the key first leg of the 4X400 for Peddie. “I also didn’t know I would fall. Someone tipped my leg.”
Fortunately, this fall came on one of those false starts. On the fifth try, the race was finally off and running.
“We had probably run 150 yards because of the false starts, but I wasn’t tired,” Gagnon insisted. “My heart was really pumping. When you run in a race like the Penn Relays, your adrenaline hits you. It doesn’t matter how many false starts there are, you go hard every time.”
The false starts did take a toll on all of the runners in the first leg, though.
“Russell Gagnon ended up running our slowest leg and he’s our fastest runner,” Gartner noted. “The other guys were running personal bests.”
Gagnon’s time was probably more because of stamina. After all, he matched up well against all of the other runners in his grouping. Gartner and his 4X400 team worked hard to be mentally prepared for this race.
“We did two days of weird happenings to get ready for this race,” Gartner noted. “We had two kids lie down on the track. We had people walking across the track during handoffs. Nothing can prepare you for the Penn Relays, but at least you can open their eyes to what can happen.”
Dealing with the distractions, Gagnon did his job. He handed off to Derek Tong in third place. Separated enough from the majority of the pack, Gagnon and Tong were able to make a smooth exchange of the baton.
“He (Gagnon) can maintain his speed, so it was a successful handoff,” Tong noted.
“I ran almost my full speed and got first at 200. Before I handed it off to Tom (Conner), I was in second place.”
There were now 15 teams behind them bumping into each other, trying to find room to run and to make exchanges. Gagon and Tong allowed Conner and Chris Nixon to concentrate on the track ahead of them.
The importance of the buffer zone came more into play at the end of the third leg. Conner had taken the lead, but Peddie lost the advantage when they had a problem with the exchange.
“Our handoff was a little off,” Conner noted. “We almost dropped it.”
The exchange problem dropped Peddie from first to third.
“We were still close,” Nixon noted. “They were both right there. I knew as soon as I got to the 200, I’d give what I had left. I made my move on the last turn.”
Much to the delight of Conner, Tong and Gagnon.
“He passed them both at once,” Conner noted. “He then accelerated to the end.”
As a result, Peddie had a victory in one of the most prestigious races in the world.
“I had to double check and make sure that was our last leg,” Conner laughed. “It was cool. This was the Penn Relays. We got to meet Bill Cosby.
“Before the race you feel nervous. Well, at least I was. Once you’re out there, it’s all adrenaline. You go all out.”
Peddie’s “all out” was good enough.
“Because of the injuries and other races, this is the first time we had those four available in a race,” Gartner said. “This is our strongest group of kids.
“These kids can be proud of what they accomplished.”
By “accomplished,” Gartner stressed the fact that he meant time. After all, Peddie had no control of the other teams in the race.
“If the guys ran 3:27 and came in sixth place, I’d be just as proud of them,” Gartner said. “The hardware is just something extra. We ran well and we were fortunate with the results.”
Having made his point about how a team can only control its own results in a sport like track, Gartner paused and flashed a big smile. “Of course, if you’re going to win a race, that’s the one where you want to do it.”
Peddie 81, Valley Forge 49Ž
The Peddie boys’ track team improved to 2-2 on the season with an 81-49 win over Valley Forge this past Tuesday.
Peddie switched around its 4X400 from its victorious day at the Penn Relays, but Conner, Tong, Yoshi Yokokawa and Berthold won the race in a time of 3:37.3.
In addition to taking part in the 4X400, Conner also won the javelin (165-8) and pole vault (12 feet). Tong was best in the 400 (53) Yokokawa won the 110 hurdles (16.7) and Matt Berthold was victorious in the 800 (2:12.2).
Chris Nixon didn’t take part in the 4X400 in this meet. Instead, Gartner used him to win the 100 (10.8), high jump (5-10) and 200 (22.9).
Peddie’s other wins came via Dave Wilson’s 4:46.5 in the 1,600 and 10:25.5 in the 3,200, Matt Dahlmeier’s 154-8 in the discus and Duran Searles’ 20-3.75 in the long jump.