PHILADELPHIA -- Thousands of individuals from all across the world enjoyed picture-perfect conditions to compete at Penn Relays from Thursday to Saturday. Despite the massive number of competitors, Germantown Academy was well represented. The Patriots not only had entries in the high school division of races, but GA also had an entry in the middle school Girls 4x100 Relay and had a handful of alumni participating.
Middle School
Before the Upper School Varsity Track and Field teams took the stage at Penn Relays on April 26, the GA Middle School teams had their chance to run.
The boys 4x100 of Jason W. '28, Logan S. '28, Callan O. '28, and Joah P. '28 went 51.50, while the girls 4x100 of Damisi O. '29, Annabelle Steckel '28, Kensi W. '30, and Jocelyn Germain '27 finished the race in 57.36.
High School
Germantown Academy had 4x400 and 4x100 teams entered for both the boys and girls teams.
On Thursday, April 25, Kayla Sweeney '24, Myree Jean-Brian '27, Gabby Colucci '24, and Piper Loney '27 won their heat of the 4x100 in 51.40. They edged out Council Rock North by .23 seconds. Other schools in the Patriots' heat were Conwell Egan, Upper Merion, South Philadelphia, Fair Lawn (NJ), Samuel Tilden (NY), Dobbins Vocational Tech, and Patterson (MD). The time was the 47th best out of the 159 teams from Pennsyvania that were competing.
Kaylin Trent '27, Lyla Perry '26, Arden Silver '27, and Nieve Keitel '27 ran 4:19.34 in the Girls' 4x400 Philadelphia Academic, placing seventh out of 18 teams.
On Friday and Saturday, the boys teams got their chance to compete and responded well. The group of Jet Dickerson '26, Blake Brown '24, Josh Cain '26 and Brady McDonough '26 took first in their heat and remained 2nd in their event group with a time of 44.26. To finish out the weekend, the 4×400 team of Ellis Johnson '25, Brown, Luke Philip '24, and Evan Badami '26, recorded a time of 3:27.67, a season-best mark by over eight seconds and the second-fastest time in school history.
Alumni
When the middle school and high school races wrapped up, it was time for some Germantown Academy alumni to take the stage. Three former Patriots -- Issy Goldstein '20, Fore Abinusawa '22, SJ Cohen '20 -- put up marks at Penn Relays.
Goldstein competed in the Women's 3000m Steeplechase Championship, finishing the event in 10:59.45.
Fore Abinusawa was a member of the Penn Women's 4x400 team and Sprint Medley Relay group. Abinusawa and the Quakers finished the SMR in a Penn-record 3:42.32, taking third overall. The 4x400 group finished in 3:34.62, qualifying for the final race.
Cohen cleared 12' 3.5" in the College Women's Pole Vault Championship, taking 10th in the competition.