AZUSA, Calif. –- For the first time ever, Azusa Pacific will be competing in the prestigious Penn Relays. The Cougars’ outstanding men’s 4x800-meter relay is traveling to Philadelphia this weekend to run against some of the best 4x8 relays in the country, including defending Penn Relays champion University of Michigan.

Cougars Kevin Lindsey, Danny Reid, Caleb Lynch, and Tim Ramirez, all of whom are NAIA All-Americans in the open 800 meter, will form one of the few quartets at the Penn Relays made up entirely of Americans.

“This is a rare opportunity for our track program,” said Preston Gray, the director of Azusa Pacific’s distance running program. “I believe we can run in the low 7:20s and be among the very best there, but our guys have never run in front of 50- to 60-thousand people. It will be a different atmosphere for them.”

All 4 Cougars, which feature 3 seniors and a sophomore (Lynch), have all run sub-1:52 half miles in their career. Ramirez ran a 1:48.38 earlier this season for the second fastest 800 ever clocked by a Cougar. Reid has a 1:49.65 to his credit. If each Cougar of the relay were to run approximately his lifetime best, the Cougars would be looking at a 7:20 performance, and over the past 2 years only one collegiate team has run a sub-7:20, that being the relay team from Oral Roberts University, which will also be at the Penn Relays this weekend.

The Penn Relays, which is more than 110 years old, is held annually at legendary Franklin Field on the campus of University of Pennsylvania. The meet, which is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday (April 27-29) features some of the best collegiate and Olympic track & field athletes in the world.

Click here for more information on the Penn Relays.