The Cougars will make their way to Philadelphia for the 115th Annual Penn Relays, which start today and run through Saturday.
The Penn Relays is the biggest track and field event in the country, with more than 20,000 athletes expected to compete and more than 100,000 spectators expected to attend.
For some, including freshman sprinter Errol Nolan, this will be the first trip to the City of Brotherly Love and the historic meet.
Nolan said the meet and atmosphere it provides have been hot topics for the team in recent weeks.
He predicts that the crowd’s involvement will improve the team’s performances.
“The team has been waiting for this meet since the beginning of the season. It’s the most crowd-involved meet we’ll be at, and I’ve never been,” Nolan said “But the way the team hyped it up, I can’t wait to go.”
“They keep telling me the atmosphere is unexplainable. We should get some really personal bests for sure just by the atmosphere.”
Although Nolan is confident going into the meet he said there would be the inevitable jitters.
“Plenty of butterflies,” he said. “The mass of people I’m expecting to see shouldn’t affect my performance, but I’m definitely nervous.”
Part of the prestige associated with the Penn Relays is the professional athletes who are invited to compete at the meet. This year, Jamaica’s world-record 4×100-meter relay team will be present with Usain Bolt as the most notable athlete.
Nolan said the Cougars will watch the professionals with curiosity but the main focus will be their own events.
“We’ll all be watching the pros to see what they do differently from us and we’ll be taking it into consideration in some way. But of course, we have to focus on our own events,” Nolan said.
The trip to Philadelphia also marks the return to where head coach Leroy Burrell began his illustrious career in track and field. Burrell was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
But like Nolan, Burrell’s priority is a solid team performance from the Cougars.
The Cougars will have one more regular-season meet on April 28 at Rice before they begin preparation for the Conference-USA Championships May 13-16 in Orlando, Fla.
