PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Seton Hall Prep experienced a wide range of emotions on the opening day of the 127th Penn Relays presented by Toyota, but when the dust settled the Pirates emerged with a dynamic double at Franklin Field.
Seton Hall Prep was attempting to become the first NJ team to ever qualify for the 4x100, 4x400, and 4x800 Championships of America races at the same meet, and they nearly pulled it off.
Their historic triple attempt started out when the Pirates ran 7:49.99 to cross the line second in its 4x800 heat to clinch a spot in the 12-team C of A race, scheduled for Friday at 5:50 p.m.
Seton Hall Prep used a lineup of Russell Webb (1:59.15), Ryan Matulonis, who dropped a red hot 1:53.72, the fastest of the day, Nick DeVita (1:55.86), and Brandon Williams (2:01.27).
A few hours later, Seton Hall suffered some misfortune when they ran 42.58 in the 4x100, but were disqualified for passing out of the zone on the first handoff. Seton Hall's 42.58 wouldn't have been fastest enough to make the 4x100 C of A race (42.03 was the cutoff for that race), but it would have qualified for the Northeast and National races.
Shortly after the 4x100, Seton Hall received some good fortune when Jamaica College, which ran 7:49.29 finished ahead of the Pirates in the 4x800, was disqualified because its leadoff runner was ineligible. So that bumped Seton Hall up to the fastest qualifying team for Friday C of A race.
Seton Hall Prep, the New Balance National Champions indoors in the 4x400, capped off its remarkable day by running 3:16.67 to place third in its heat and sixth overall among the 565 teams that finished in all the heats combined
The time earned the Pirates a spot in the 9-team C of A race, scheduled for Friday at 4:20 p.m., 90 minutes before the 4x800.
DeVita ran 49.07, Matulonis, the only Seton Hall athlete to run all three races, split 48.77, Webb 51.33, and Xavier Donaldson anchored in 47.32.
This is the second time Seton Hall pulled off the very rare 4x400/4x800 C of A double. In 2005, Seton Hall's Pat Altema, Bernier Lauredan, Billy Buzaid, and Charles Curry ran on the 4x400 The 4x800 lineup was Led Smith, Pat Muldoon, Brian Trembley, and Lauredan.
The last time a NJ boys team pulled off the 4x400/4x800 C of A double was in 2014 when Union Catholic finished eighth in the 4x400 and 12th in the 4x800.
Since the 4x800 represents Seton Hall's best chance to win a coveted Penn Relay wheel for just the second time in school history (it won the distance medley C of A race in 1927), with three runners, Russell Webb, Ryan Matulonis, and Nick DeVita scheduled to also run the 4x400 90 minutes before the 4x800 on Friday, earlier, Seton Hall Prep coach Steve Trembley said whether he runs both races will be a game time decision.
If Seton Hall Prep wins the 4x800, it would be the first U.S. team to finish first since Pleasantville captured the title in 2013. A team from Jamaica has won every C of A 4x800 since then.
"It was an emotional day and we gave it our all,'' said Webb. "The 4x100 didn't go as planned, but we are very excited to make it to two finals. We felt we had a good chance to win the 4x800 tomorrow before they (Jamaica College) got DQ'd, but when we found out they were out of the race, that really got us excited about our chances.''