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Temple women triumph in sprint-medley relay

By the time Blanca Fernandez finally had reached the track Friday evening to make her Penn Relays debut, the sun was fading, making a cold day even colder.

Blanca Fernandez of Temple runs ahead of the competition after taking the baton for the anchor leg of the College Women's Sprint Medley Championship of America on April 24, 2015. (Charles Fox/Staff Photographer)
Blanca Fernandez of Temple runs ahead of the competition after taking the baton for the anchor leg of the College Women's Sprint Medley Championship of America on April 24, 2015. (Charles Fox/Staff Photographer)Read more

By the time Blanca Fernandez finally had reached the track Friday evening to make her Penn Relays debut, the sun was fading, making a cold day even colder.

But the Temple graduate student from Spain managed just fine, anchoring the Owls to a school record time of 3 minutes, 56.77 seconds in the women's sprint-medley relay. Fernandez, who has set four program records this year, was clocked in 2:11.79 for 800 meters.

"It was good, but I'm not used to waiting so long," she said. "I think I was a little bit cold before the start. But we broke records so I think it doesn't matter."

Fernandez received the baton with a sizeable lead, thanks to the work of Bionca St. Fleur, Jimmia McCluskey and Kenya Gaston before her.

Fernandez, who hails from Leon, Spain, which she said was a 2½-hour drive from Madrid, enrolled at Temple in January and is a graduate student in sports business. She has made an immediate impression on the track with records in the mile and 3,000 indoors, and the 800 and 1,500 meters outdoors.

As for the Penn Relays, Fernandez said, "The first impression was awesome. This is so crowded. The atmosphere was so good. I'm happy, but now I'm so tired."

Fernandez will run again Saturday in the Olympic Development women's mile. She is making no predictions.

"I don't know. I don't know," she said. "It's going to be tough. But we are here to run so we will be there."

Repeat performance

It was important for Darrell Hill to close out his Penn Relays career with his second straight win in the shotput, and he responded with a personal-best day.

Hill, a graduate of Penn Wood High School, picked up another watch with a winning heave of 68 feet, 21/2 inches, only two inches short of the carnival record, and topping his previous career-best by 61/2 inches.

"I didn't want to win it as a junior and come out this year and lose," Hill said. "I wanted to win it again and go after that Penn Relays record. It means a lot to come down here and compete well against a great field. It means a lot to win it for the second year in a row."

A first for 'Nova

Senior Elbert Maxwell made history for Villanova by winning the long jump, becoming the first Wildcat to win that event ever at the Penn Relays.

Maxwell, who jumped 25 feet even, was just the ninth athlete in 'Nova history to win an individual field event at the carnival. He was the first champion since Jen Pastore in the javelin in 1996, and first male since Jim Shillow in the javelin in 1968.

The metric equivalent of 7.62 meters was two centimeters short of Maxwell's personal best.