Just got an email from Joe Juliano that 1999 was the last year there was a lightning delay. He also sent along the Inquirer's recap of that day. Here's Ron Reid's story:
A LIGHT SHOW
STORMS AND STARS AT RELAYS
Apr 24, 1999
By Ron Reid, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Four women from Texas blazed around Franklin Field to a meet record yesterday in the 105th Penn Relays , where Georgetown made the men's distance medley a drama for about 90 seconds and TCU fell by the competitive wayside.
Bad weather also got into the act, dousing athletes, officials and those of the 31,109 spectators who couldn't find cover with a steady rain that got intense at times before lightning suspended competition twice for a total of 90 minutes and forced the rescheduling of some events for today.
Herman Mancini, 87, the clerk of course emeritus who has officiated the last 61 Penn Relays , said the suspensions were a Penn Relays first.
A nicer time was produced by the Longhorns' Kim McGruder, Nanceen Perry, LaKiesha White and LaKeisha Backus, who graced their victory in the 4x100-meter relay with superb baton passing and superior speed.
When Backus shot across the finish line, 10 meters in front of Pete-Gaye Dowdie of Louisiana State, the timers caught Texas in 43.33 seconds. LSU was second in 44.27.
The Longhorns' time wiped out the former Penn Relays standard of 43.42, set by LSU in 1998, and obviously added another chapter to the ongoing rivalry between the two teams, each of whom will contend for the NCAA outdoor championship in June.
``We came here hoping to do that,'' McGruder said of the record run. ``We knew if we came in ready to compete, we knew we were capable of breaking a record. ''
The LSU women won't go home empty-handed. Loren Leverton, Selena Lewis, April Sams and Philadelphia's Joyce Bates saw to that with a 54.01-second victory in the women's shuttle hurdles.
Bates, the NCAA indoor hurdles champion who prepped at Simon Gratz High School, nailed the victory with a strong closing leg.
``I knew we weren't first when I was coming out,'' Bates said, ``but I just said to myself: `I'm stronger than them. ' I focused on my rhythm. I couldn't tell where I was . . . because there was so much water in my eyes. I was just pounding forward and hoping I would get through the line first. ''
High drama of a longer duration came in the men's distance medley relay during the brief stint in which Georgetown anchorman John Jordan seemed headed toward a colossal upset of Arkansas' Seneca Lassiter.
Jordan had taken the baton 15 meters behind Lassiter, one of the nation's best middle-distance stars, at the final exchange and trailed by as much as 25 meters through the early stages of the 1,600-meter leg.
But Jordan closed the distance with a courageous pace helped enormously by Lassiter. For reasons known only to his psyche, the Razorbacks senior eased off in the final 400 meters to save himself, as he explained later, for today's 4x800 and 4xmile relays .
The result was Jordan pulling to within one long stride of his Razorbacks rival before Lassiter knew what was up.
Once he realized the situation, coming out of the first turn in the final 400 meters, Lassiter hit the throttle and ran away from Jordan like a startled pickpocket. He boosted his lead to 20 meters before he came out of the final turn and won the race by 15 meters.
Lassiter ran a 4:02.5 split to give Arkansas a victory in 9:32.81, the slowest time in 17 years but a happy one for the Hogs, who wanted to make amends for losing the DMR to Michigan last year.
Arkansas got good early work ahead of Lassiter. Mike Power, an Australian, covered the opening 1,200 lead leg in 2:54.7. Ryan Stanley blasted through the 400-meter second leg in 46.2, and James Karanu, a Kenyan, had a 1:49.4 split for the 800-meter leg that preceded Lassiter's lope.
``He had it all set up for himself,'' said Jordan, reflecting on the apparent guile of his Arkansas rival. ``I knew once he took it out it would be tough to catch him because I used up so much [energy] trying to gain ground on him. ''
Jordan was timed in 4:03.8, but the Hoyas were beaten for second place by Southern Methodist, who got a spectacular 3:57.2 anchor leg from Clyde Colenso.
``I guess I relaxed too much on that second 800,'' said Lassiter. ``I didn't realize how much I'd slowed down but I didn't nothing of it. I knew I had all the energy in the world. ''
So did the sprinters of TCU, but their control was a big problem. The pre-meet favorite in the men's 4x100-meter relay , the Flying Frogs suffered a highly uncharacteristic bad handoff in their qualifying heat. Jarmiene Holloway, running second, barely got the baton to Lindel Frater within the passing zone. The error cost dearly as the Frogs finished 15th with a time of 41.11 seconds. Three weeks ago, their victory in the Texas Relays was timed in 38.64.
TCU's pratfall left Clemson the favorite in today's final off a 39.98 qualifying mark. No other team broke 40 seconds. Clemson also ran the fastest time in the 4x200 qualifying heats at 1:22.66. Auburn was second in 1:22.76, the only other team to break 1:23.
The women's 4x1,500-meter relay went to Wisconsin's Stephanie Pesch, Bethany Brewster, Janet Westphal and Jenelle Deatherage.
The Badgers put it out of reach on the third leg, shortly after Westphal took the lead away from Kelly Brady of Wake Forest and moved 15 meters ahead of the pack. Deatherage gave a little ground on the final leg but held a 10-meter margin of victory at the finish line.
Wisconsin's winning time of 17:37.15 was the second slowest in the 11-year history of the event, but the race was decidedly more painful for Villanova.
Krissy Jost, in what was only her second race of the outdoor season, showed she has yet to recover from the foot injury that cost her all of last season and indoor competition in 1999.
Jost, the 1997 NCAA 3,000-meter champion, simply wasn't ready to race. Nova fell 15 seconds behind after the first leg, and Carmen Douma, Kristen Nicollini and Carrie Goddard couldn't overcome the deficit.
The Wildcats finished sixth in 17:51.24 and left first-year coach Marcus O'Sullivan wondering whom to run today in the women's distance medley.
Brad Snyder of South Carolina won the shot for the second straight year when he muscled the 16-pound iron ball 64 feet, 5 1/4 inches. Snyder won at 65-9 3/4 last year.
