Wildcats Place High at Penn Relays

Thursday, April 26

Philadelphia, P.A.

10 AM

University of New Hampshire

Penn Relays

4/26/2018 3:16:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Track and Field, Women's Track & Field

PHILADELPHIA - The University of New Hampshire track and field teams are down at the annual Penn Relays, the largest and oldest track meet in the country, with the Wildcats competing in four events over the course of the week.

THURSDAY
On Thursday, the Wildcats began their week at the Penn Relays with the women's highjump. Senior Shelby Strickland (Kennebunk, Maine) ended the event tied for fourth with a height of 5 feet, 5.75 inches, just two inches off her personal best and three inches behind the leader, Iesha Hamm of Cal State Fullerton. Senior Rachel Morrison (Westwood, Mass.) ended tied for 12th with 5'4.25".

FRIDAY
Friday evening the team of Brett Hoerner (Manchester, N.H.), Brandon Allen (East Elmhurst, N.Y.), Matthew Adams (Concord, N.H.) and William Ulrich (Mineola, N.Y.) competed in the distance medley relay.

Hoerner led off for the 'Cats in the 1200 meter leg, finishing in 3:03:37 as UNH sat in the middle of the lead group sitting tied for third. Allen was next in the 400 meter sprint, beating his personal best by less than a second with 48.03 seconds. Adams then took off in the 800, also finishing faster than his personal best in the event in 1:52.82. The anchor, Ulrich, gave the 'Cats a strong finish in the final leg, the 1600, finishing in 4:06.32. That was good enough for a runner up finish with a time of 9:50.53, just two seconds shy of the school record in the event.

The 'Cats were runner up to Mississippi state who finished in 9:49.85. UNH took runner up in a field of 16 other teams.

SATURDAY
Saturday's events began for the Wildcats with Michael Shanahan (Dover, N.H.) taking on top talent in the hammer throw championship. Shanahan hit a distance of 222'5" to take third place in the compeition, sitting behind Penn's states Morgan Shigo and Princeton's Adam Kelly. Shanahan was just 3'4" behind Kelly, and 5'5" off his personal best set at the Wildcat Invitational earlier this month.

UNH's week at the Penn Relays ended with a relay team of Adams, Ulrich, Aaron Dobe (Contoocook, N.H.) and Joseph Poggi (Derry, N.H.) competing for the 4x800 championship. The Wildcats finished in 12th place with a final time of 7:30.62. Dobe lead off with a time of 1:52.99, followed by Adams at 1:51.19, Poggi at 1:52.88, all three of them finishing faster than their personal best in the 800m. Ulrich once again anchored, his time was 1:53.58.

UP NEXT:
The championship season starts next weekend with the America East Championships taking place May 5 and 6 at UMBC. Then the Wildcats will head to the New England Outdoor Championships hosted by Dartmouth on May 11 and 12, followed by the ECAC/IC4A Championships in Princeton, N.J. Those who qualify will then head to the NCAA Regional Meet in Tampa, Florida, which takes place May 24 through 26. The NCAA Outdoor Championships will be held in Eugene, Oregon June 6 through 9.