Trotters team up again to win at Penn Relays
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

It was like old times for Amanda and Katy Trotter. Franklin Field and the Penn Relays.

The last time the twins had raced there together, in 2003, they led Red Bank Regional High School’s distance medley relay team to a Championship of America title.

Friday afternoon, the Trotters were back in Philadelphia as teammates on Stanford University’s winning 4x1,500-meter relay squad and again experienced the thrill of victory at the nation’s oldest and biggest track and field meet. The sophomores ran the two opening legs for Stanford, handing the baton stick to teammates Sara Bei and Arianna Lambie with the lead. Stanford’s winning time was 17:38.16

Katy Trotter started it all off running a 4:25.1 opening leg, giving her sister the baton in first place. Amanda held onto the lead through her 4:31.3 leg. Bei turned in a 4:22.4, but the Cardinal lost the lead when Villanova had its best runner, Marina Muncan, running the third leg. She turned in a blistering 4:17.2 split to move the hometown favorites into the lead. But in running Muncan on the third leg, the Wildcats had to give up something, which was no answer for Lambie. Her 4:19.2 split was more than enough to bring the Cardinal home in first by almost four seconds.

This was the second straight Penn Relays crown with the Stanford 4x1,500 team for Katy Trotter. This year was more memorable, she said, because she and her sister were teammates again.

“We raced all the time in high school together,” she said. “In college we haven’t been on a relay team together, so this makes it really special.”

With the high school DMR and two 4x1,500 titles at Penn, Katy Trotter has now won three straight years at Penn.

Katy Trotter ran the leadoff 1,200-meter leg for Stanford’s DMR, which finished fifth on Thursday in 11:24.17. Trotter clocked 3:28.4 for her three-lap run.

Both Katy and Amanda Trotter have enjoyed quite a bit of success at Stanford, which is perhaps the premier distance running program in the country. As freshmen in 2003, they helped the Cardinal win the NCAA Division I cross country championship. They also competed for Team USA at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium.

Katy is a two-time All-American for the Cardinal and last year set the school record for the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:07.55) and qualified for the NCAA championships.

Amanda Trotter emerged as one of the top steeplechase and 5,000-meter runners in the Pac-10 last year. She was First Team All-Pac-10 in cross country last fall.

Christian Brothers Academy’s distance medley relay team went to Penn thinking it had a good chance to claim a win. They had finished second at the indoor national championship behind Shore Conference rival Colts Neck and were looking forward to another battle with the Cougars.

But Newton North of Massachusetts, with Millrose Games high school mile winner Chris Barnicle running the anchor, stole the show, winning in the fastest time in the country this year, 10:04.15, while CBA finished sixth (10:21.07).

The Colts earned some redemption the following day when the quartet of Glackin , Leinart, Brendon Pierson and Dave McLaughlin won their heat in the 4x400 relay. Their time of 3:23.62 gave the Colts their second straight 4x400 plaque, and seventh overall.

Shore Regional also earned a plaque in the 4x400 relay as Scott Britton (50.2) and Matt Reidy (51.1) ran their personal best spits, to lead the Blue Devils to a finish of 3:26.29, good enough to win their heat.