Paramus Catholic High School sat in sixth place after the first leg of its 4×400- meter relay. But by the time current Syracuse sophomore Justin Frazier received the baton, he was in a three-way battle for first place on the anchor leg.

Frazier, then a senior at Paramus, had the lead but started his kick late, mistaking the point that marked the final 100 meters of the race. He said he ran about 51 seconds for his split and his foursome settled for third place in its heat at the 2003 Penn Relays Carnival.

But even without wins, most athletes who go to the four-day competition have at least one good story from the meet where the world comes to run. Syracuse will hope for a success story of its own this weekend when Sheron Mark, Jenna Grimaldi and Jillian Drouin compete.

‘The race was very exciting and an out-of-world experience,’ Frazier said.

The 111th Penn Relays will host 924 high schools from 17 states and seven other countries, and 241 colleges from 34 states and three other countries. Most high schools participate in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays, while a much smaller group qualifies for the prestigious Championship of America in a particular race. The winners receive championship watches and a large plaque, presented to them in the middle of historic Franklin Field, the site of the meet on the University of Pennsylvania campus.

The Penn Relays has a distinct style. First, runners aren’t assigned individual lanes for relays. It’s a California start, where everyone is lined up next to one another and have to fight for position when the gun goes off. There’s never a shortage of elbows, spiked runners and dropped batons.

The fans, wearing every possible color uniform, are a knowledgeable crowd and are the main reason why the meet is so special. In every race there is undoubtedly a point where someone in first place is going to be overtaken by a trailing runner who usually makes up a significant amount of ground. The suspenseful crowd goes ‘woooooh,’ signaling to the lead runner that he or she is in trouble. Sometimes the crowd is silenced when the leader is not overtaken, but often times it’s the other way around.

Chris Muldoon, who lives near Penn’s Philadelphia campus, never ran at the meet in high school but ran the distance-medley relay as a freshman at Syracuse. He was allowed on the field the last day of competition when Olympians run and more than 50,000 fans fill the stadium.

‘I was right next to Alan Webb,’ Muldoon said. ‘(Olympic distance runner) Bob Kennedy was running too. We were joking that we should steal his trainers while he was running his race.’

Everyone knows it’s Saturday when the big guns make their way onto the track for the USA versus the World series of races. Frazier remembers 2002’s women’s 4×200-meter relay between Jamaica and the United States. Jamaica is known to have the best crowd every year and fills the stands with national flags and a desire to upend the Americans. They did that in the 4×100 and were on their way to doing it again in the 4×200. But Jamaican anchor leg Tayna Lawrence unexpectedly stumbled and fell less than 10 feet from the finish line. Kelli White streaked by her for the shocking American win.

Mark, Grimaldi and Drouin won’t have the same attention on them, but Franklin Field will still be buzzing enough to give them a story or two to leave with.

‘It might not be the most competitive meet for college anymore,’ Muldoon said, ‘but it definitely has the best atmosphere.’

Published on April 26, 2005 at 12:00 pm