Why the Penn Relays is a powerhouse for college Track and Field
Rekortan tracks the Colleges and Collegiate performances that have dominated the biggest meet in the US.
When it comes to collegiate track and field, the Penn Relays is a powerhouse. Unrivalled in relay records, nine U.S. current collegiate records were set at the world-famous Franklin Field meet including the men's 4x200m, 4x1500m, 4xMile, Distance Medley, 4x110m Hurdles and the women's 4x800m, 4x1500m, Distance Medley and 4x100m hurdles. From Harvard to Villanova we take a closer look at the colleges and collegiate performances that make this meet such an important destination for college athletes on the rise.
The Top Three Penn Relays Colleges of all time: Relays
In terms of the overall number golds in the relay events, the most decorated collegiate trophy cabinets are:
Villanova University, Pennsylvania. The most successful University at relay events in the history of Penn Relays, with an astounding 140 relay wins (double the number of its closest rival). The men’s teams scooped 97 wins between 1955 and 2024, and the women clinched 43 between 1979 and 2019.
Louisiana State University (LSU) comes in second with 70 wins (24 on the men's side and 46 on the women's side). If you take women’s relays alone, LSU takes the top spot over Villanova.
University of Pennsylvania clinches third place on their home track with 57 wins – all secured by the men’s side with the exception of one women’s gold in the Distance Medley Relay in 2019. Neighboring Penn State University’s men's 4x800m record from 1985 is the longest-standing college relay record (40 years if it remains unbroken at the 2025 edition).
“Villanova University won the Men’s Distance Medley an astonishing 25 times, the most times a team has won the same relay event. Undefeated in the event from 1966-1981 Villanova also holds the record for consecutive wins with 16.”
Record Breaking Universities: Harvard, Stanford and the University of South Carolina
For current standing college Penn Relays records run on the Rekortan track, Harvard sits at the top of the league table with six (including relay and individual events). Rivals Stanford hold the longest standing Penn Relays record in women’s individual races with PattiSue Plumer’s 15:29.0 mark for the 5000m in 1984. The University of South California can claim the longest standing record on the men’s side with Tony Waldrop’s 3:53.2 Mile which was the overall Mile Record at the Penn Relays (including Olympic Development runners) between 1974 and 2024.
Harvard holds the collegiate record for current standing Penn Relays records:
Villanova dominate in the distance Relays
Villanova University won the Men’s Distance Medley an astonishing 25 times, the most times a team has won the same relay event. Undefeated in the event from 1966-1981 Villanova also holds the record for consecutive wins with 16.
The longest standing women’s record of 36 years, again held by Villanova, was spectacularly broken in the 2024 edition, when Harvard's Distance Medley Relay team ran 10:37.55 in 2024. In the remarkable race, second-placed University of Providence also ran below the old mark. It was Harvard's first win in relay events since 1936.
2024 Collegiate athletes run Miles better
History was made again in 2024 when the men's 4xMile saw three college teams accomplish in one race, what no others have up to this point: running sub-16 minutes at the Penn Relays. In a nail-biting finish, Villanova University won a remarkable race setting new event and Collegiate records with a 15:51.91 finish. Remarkably, 13 runners broke the 4 min barrier at this race.
From individual event Collegiate record holders to Olympic greatness
Within the individual events, Collegiate Penn Relays record holders have produced phenomenal performances on the Rekortan track and gone on to achieve Olympic success. To name just a few, Leroy Burell’s 10.10 second win for the University of Houston in 1990 is the standing 100m collegiate record. The college star went on to become Olympic Champion in Barcelona 1992 (4x100m) and double World Champion in the same relay event (Tokyo 1991 and Stuttgart 1993).
The University of Miami’s Lauryn Williams clocked a record of 11.10 as a college athlete in the women’s 100m in 2004. An Olympic silver medal in the 100m in Athens that same year followed and in 2005 she became a World Champion in both the 100m and the 4x100m. She topped that off with an Olympic gold in the 4x100 at London 2012.
Harvard’s Gabrielle Thomas clocked 22.76 in the women’s 200m in 2018. One of the greatest American sprinters of recent times, she went on to make history again in Paris 2024 with three Olympic gold medals: 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m.
“Within the individual events, Collegiate Penn Relays record holders have produced phenomenal performances on the Rekortan track and gone on to achieve Olympic success.”
The most successful Penn Relay college athlete of all time
There are only eight athletes in the history of Penn Relays that have won the same individual event four times but the Jamaican, Diane Guthrie-Gresham is the only one that has achieved this feat twice. Representing George Mason University, she has four individual wins at both the long jump and heptathlon events (1991, 1992, 1994 and 1995). With nine individual titles as a college student including one High Jump title, and three as a high schooler, Diane Guthrie-Gresham is the most successful college athlete ever at Penn Relays, and the most successful athlete overall in terms of individual titles.
Rising college stars will run on Rekortan in the 2025 edition
From Relay record dominance to a storied history of individual event success, the Penn Relay’s collegiate track record is strong. The world-class Rekortan track is once again, ready for action. As we head into the 2025 edition, what college names will be added to the hall of fame?
Find out more about Rekortan’s historic partnership with the Penn Relays.