PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Livingston, a program that has never had a reputation as being a sprint power, opened lots of eyes by leaving lots of smoke on the track on the opening day of the 127th Penn Relays, presented by Toyota on Thursday at Franklin Field.
The Lancers made history by showing off their speed by stopping the clock at 43.15 to place second in their 4x100-meter relay heat to advance to the Northeast final, which is scheduled for Friday at 1:25 p.m. It's the first time ever that Livingston has advanced to a sprint championship at the Penn Relays.
Bergen Catholic (42.86) and Piscataway (42.97) will join Livingston in the 9-team Northeast Championship.
BC ran the 25th fastest time among the 571 teams that competed, Piscataway's 42.97 was the 28th fastest, and Livingston, which also won its 4x400 heat on Thursday in 3:26.69, ran the 37th fastest time in the 4x100.
"We ran 42.80 at the Dodgertown Relays a couple weeks ago, so we knew we were capable of doing this,'' said junior Luke Petryna, who anchored the 4x100 and 4x400. "And we know we can much faster tomorrow if we clean some things up. We love breaking our own school records and chasing fast times.''
Senior Ethan Wang, and juniors Chase Wade and Chase Kaufman ran the first three legs for Livingston. Wade and Kaufman, who ran outdoors for the first time last year and are coming off their first indoor season, have blended together perfectly with Wang and Petryna.
Petryna and Wade also came back later to run on Livingston's 4x400, which earned a mini wheel for winning its heat.
"Our coaches have done a great job changing up our workouts and training and it has made a big difference,'' said Petryna. "To come out here at the Penn Relays and make it to a final shows how far we've come.''
Bergen Catholic, which owns the state's best time of 41.78, used a lineup of Allan Hinton Clarke, Kaj Sanders, Andrew Boakye, and Logan Casey.
For Piscataway, which has a season best time of 42.56, Deshaun Stephens, Dallas Jones, Xavien Dukes, and Noah Grant, shared the baton.