Georgetown wins women's distance medley relay at Penn Relays

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Sabrina Southerland led Georgetown to the Penn Relays women's distance medley relay title Thursday, running a speedy third leg to help the Hoyas dethrone four-time defending champion Villanova.

Georgetown finished in 11 minutes, 12.73 seconds for its third title in the event and first since 2011. The Hoyas led by a wide margin for most of the race, beat second-place Oklahoma State by five seconds and third-place Villanova by nine seconds in the marquee event of the first full day of the country's oldest and largest track meet.

Villanova, which ran three sophomores and a freshman, held a small lead after the opening 1,200-meter leg. But Georgetown surged ahead on the strength of Heather Martin's 400 leg (55.12 seconds) and extended its advantage on Southerland's 800 (2:05.22).

Katrina Coogan ran the 1,600 anchor leg in 4:44.07 for the Hoyas, who were coming off an NCAA indoor title in the DMR. Andrea Keklak ran the opening 1,200 leg in 3:28.33 at a chilly, rainy Franklin Field.

The meet continues with a full slate of high school and college events Friday and Saturday. The 17th annual USA vs. the World competition will also be held Saturday with several well-known professionals, including Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay, Sanya Richards-Ross and DeeDee Trotter, slated to compete as they prepare for the US Olympics trials in July.