Three Middle Tennessee relay teams finish third at Penn Relays

PHILADELPHIA - Middle Tennessee relay teams came up just short in their quests to capture championships at the Penn Relays Saturday, but the Blue Raiders and Lady Raiders had strong showings as they finished third in three of the five relays they ran, respectively.

The Blue Raiders' 4X200 relay team of Wesley Dupar-Scott, Xavier Darden, Pedro Holiday and Mardy Scales had a strong showing as they finished third with a time of 1:22.96 in what was a three-way battle between first-place Mississippi State (1:22.53), and No. 2 Arkansas (1:22.62). Middle Tennessee anchor Scales almost closed the gap down the stretch, but he came up just short.

Middle Tennessee also was third in the 4X400 as Sean Waller, Scales, Tim Hicks and Darden pushed Texas Christian (3:02.89) and LSU (3:04.18) early on before falling off the pace and finishing with a 3:07.12. The Blue Raiders did outdistance Stanford (3:11.16) to nab a top three finish.

The Blue Raiders' quartet of Darden, Scales, Dupar-Scott and Holiday finished fifth in the 4X100 with a time of 40.64.

The Lady Raiders' also had a strong third-place showing in the 4X400 as Kerry Barrow, Contrena Brown, Kishara George and Rosemary Okafor put together a time of 3:40.71. The Lady Raiders 4X200 entry of Barrow, Tiffany Owens, George and Okafor ran a 1:36.21 and finished seventh.

Linnie Yarbrough, the only Blue Raider individual competing Saturday, ran a 14.05 in the 110-hurdles to finish seventh.

While 12 Middle Tennessee tracksters competed at the Penn Relays, the remainder of the team participated in the Twilight Invitational at Murray State. J.J. Sturm (long jump), James Thomas (hammer), and KeKe Deckard (long jump) each captured first-place finishes in the event.

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