Stunning collegiate record by Arkansas in 4×1,500m relay

PHILADELPHIA – Arkansas demolished the collegiate record in the women’s 4 x 1,500m relay by 14-plus seconds during the final day of the Penn Relays Carnival at historic Franklin Field and Razorback anchor leg Krissy Gear earned the women’s Collegiate Athlete of the Meet honor.

It was quite a day for Arkansas as they produced a time of 16:53.87 in breaking the Penn Relays and collegiate record of 17:08.34 set by Tennessee in 2009.

The Razorback collegiate record crew included Isabel Van Camp (4:15.7), Logan Jolly (4:13.7), Lauren Gregory (4:12.5), and Gear (4:12.0). In addition to the collegiate, Penn Relays, and Arkansas school record, the Razorback quartet ranks No. 2 on the U.S. all-time list and No. 3 on the World all-time list.

Before the American record was lowered to 16:27.02 in 2020, the previous U.S. record was 16:55.33 from 2014.

In comparison to the previous collegiate record the Tennessee splits included Chanelle Price (4:19.5), Phoebe Wright (4:19.0), Rolanda Bell (4:19.6), and Sarah Bowman (4:10.2).

This marked just the third Penn Relays Championship of America title for the Razorback women, who also won the 4 x 1,500 in 2001. The span of 21 years between Arkansas victories in the event is the longest in meet history, topping the previous mark of nine years for Stanford (2006-15).

In becoming the first school to run sub 17 minutes in this relay, Arkansas defeated a field of 12 teams. North Carolina State finished second in 16:55.19 with a line-up of Anna Vess, Samantha Bush, Savannah Shaw, and Katelyn Tuohy.

The top six teams included Ole Miss (17:24.46), Indiana (17:25.00), BYU (17:29.45), and Georgetown (17:32.43).

Through each leg of the relay race Arkansas and NC State occupied the top two positions, trading the lead periodically. However, the Razorbacks moved into the lead prior to the first and third baton exchanges. NC State built a 10m lead going into the second exchange.

Gregory passed Shaw during the third leg and built a 15m lead. Tuohy, then, steadily closed the gap until she was able to pass Gear with a lap and a half remaining.

Gear kept in contact with Tuohy and moved into the lead with 230m remaining in the race. Gear pulled away and held an edge the finish line for the historic victory.

“This is an amazing place to race,” stated Van Camp. “The energy is amazing. I just wanted to go out there, do my best, contribute, and do my part because I knew my teammates were going to take care of what needed to get done. It was awesome and an amazing experience.”

Jolly added: “All of us had some experience indoors in setting school records in the distance medley relay and winning races. So, this was fun to have us all together. We came out here with an amazing crowd and had fun weekend.

“The start was a little crazy. We didn’t realize the race was coming at 12:15 p.m. (originally scheduled for 12:30).  So, our adrenaline was running, and we just had a great time out there. It’s so great to do it with these girls.”

Gregory noted: “I think the fact that we knew we could count on each other that when we passed off the baton, we just knew the next person would take care of it. That’s the strength of the team that we have, and that’s just the reliability of all these girls. We train together and love each other. It just manifested into an amazing relay, as usual.”

Gear stated: “Knowing the girls before me did a perfect job of setting me up, I didn’t want to ruin that.

On hearing the crowd react each time the lead changed between NC State and Arkansas, Gear added: “Normally, I would have freaked out about that, but I told myself, ‘just use that to your advantage.’ Every time they got louder, I said ‘there goes my energy, like spike it, I’m so ready right now.’

“It was super cool, and nothing can match this experience.”