dailyloe.com – The Distance Medley Relay, or DMR, at the Penn Relays features 1200m, 400m, 800m, and 1600m legs in that order. Only 15 teams per gender qualify for the race. A time close to or under 10:10 is needed for high school boys, while girls must near the 12:00 minute barrier. The event is one of the hardest relays for any school to enter at the Penn Relays, according to MileSplit United States.
Four of the top five boys’ seeds come from Pennsylvania. The number one seed is Mifflin County, which won the DMR at NBNI with a time of 10:05. Mifflin County is the favorite, anchored by Carter Smith, who runs a 4:00 mile and is among the top 800m and mile runners in the county.
North Penn is another contender, with Musa Herzi on the leadoff leg. Herzi holds personal records of 1:52 over 800m and 4:18 over 1600m. Lower Merion also enters the mix, with twins Alexander Mazzeo and Nicholas Mazzeo on the 1200m and 1600m legs respectively. Both twins hold PRs of 4:11 over 1600m, with Alex having the slightly faster PR.
Christian Brothers Academy has won the DMR for the past two years. They aim for a three-peat with Gavin Schmitt and Luke Hnatt on the leadoff and anchor legs. La Salle College is the final Pennsylvania team in the race, relying on Bobby Franklin’s anchor performance. Franklin, the indoor state champion over the mile, holds a PR of 4:10 from a year ago and 4:13 over the full mile indoors.
In the girls’ race, eleven of the fifteen teams come from New Jersey. New Jersey dominates the field, holding more than two-thirds of the total teams. Union Catholic is the clear favorite, having broken the indoor national record in the DMR and winning the same event last year. The question is how fast they will run, and whether Paige Sheppard will break 4:30 on the anchor leg.
Other top girls’ teams include Shenendehowa East, Ridge, and Ridgewood. All three were very close to, if not under, the 12-minute barrier indoors. The Penn Relays DMR remains a highly competitive event with strong regional representation.
