Lady Vols set world record in 6,000 at Penn Relays

PHILADELPHIA — Sarah Bowman’s speedy anchor leg led Tennessee to a world record in a seldom-run event Friday, moving the Lady Vols within a victory of a rare Penn Relays triple.

Bowman rallied from fourth place with a blistering time of 4 minutes, 10.2 seconds on the last leg, and the Vols won the 6,000-meter relay in 17:08.34, besting the previous mark of 17:09.75, set by Australia in London nine years ago.

Now, Tennessee, which won the distance medley Thursday, will attempt to become the sixth women’s team in the 115-year history of the meet to win the three major distance relays on Saturday in the 1,600 relay.

Tennessee didn’t find out it set a world record until after leaving Franklin Field on the University of Pennsylvania campus.

“When you find something like this out, it just makes the win all that much sweeter,” Bowman said. “You race just to compete and you can’t concern yourself with records, but after the race is completed all those other accolades make it that much more special.”

Tennessee coach JJ Clark tried to put the record performance in an event run primarily at relay meets in the U.S. into perspective.

“It’s always a good thing when you accomplish something that no one else ever has,” Clark said. “Every time you set a record, you have accomplished something. But to set a record that a country held, we broke a record set by Australia, that’s something to really be proud of. It’s never been done before.

“It’s not an event that’s run a lot, but it is (a part of the Penn Relays), so, of course, you want to do as well as you can.”

Bowman, who anchored three second-place finishes at last year’s Relays, took the baton from Rolanda Bell in fourth place and moved into second on the third lap. She squared off against Georgetown’s Maggie Infield for the second straight day, taking the lead for good just before the final turn. Bowman held off the Georgetown anchor on the final leg of Thursday’s DMR for the Vols’ first win.

“I don’t mean to sound cocky, but as soon as she took the baton I knew we had it won,” Clark said. “These other three girls did a great job. They kept Sarah in position to do what she had to do.”

The Vols’ Chanelle Price opened with a 4:19.5 leg, Phoebe Wright followed with a 4:19.0 effort, and Bell handed off in 4:19.6.

Bowman was cautious through most of the final leg and stopped on several attempts to pass the leaders.

“I do have a tendency to get a little anxious,” Bowman said. “I guess I kind of test the waters to see what I’m doing. ... I pull up and I’m not sure when I’m going to go.

“When I made up my mind to go, I went. At some point, you have to stop playing around. I know I had something left. It was just a matter of finding it.”

Tennessee will attempt to join some select company when it tries to complete a distance triple on Saturday. North Carolina is the last women’s team to accomplished the feat, winning the DMR, 6,000 and 1,600 relay events in 2003. Villanova won the event four times, in 1989-90, ’95 and ’97.

The second- and third-place finishers finished in meet-record time. Georgetown clocked in at 17:11.8, and Washington was third in 17:14.55.