Over the next three days, sophomore Sean Obinwa will be running in
front of crowds large enough to momentarily quench his Olympic
aspirations.
With more than 110,000 people expected to file around Franklin
Field for the 117th Penn Relays in Philadelphia, the freshman from
Tampa will get his first taste of the world's oldest and largest
relay carnival on Thursday.
"I'm so used to such a medium-sized crowd compared to that," Obinwa
said. "It'll be really good if I continue to progress, and if I
have a future in track, it will be good practice if one day I get
out there to the Olympics. I'll be able to handle all of that
pressure or just to perform in front of a huge audience like
that."
The environment presents an opportunity to catapult a young
runner's career, as Olympic heroes including Carl Lewis, Jesse
Owens and Michael Johnson have all competed at the relays.
Last year, Jamaican gold medalist Usain Bolt added to the aura of
the event by participating in a crowd-pleasing "U.S.A. vs. The
World" race.
UF coach Mike Holloway said this week's relay carnival, which
simply means a track meet focused on relay events not individual
races, is something every young athlete should experience
once.
"I think what it does is it helps prepare us from an emotional
standpoint for the conference and national meets," he said. "After
going to the Penn Relays, nothing else is going to really rattle
you, so it's a good situation."
The No. 4 Gators' men's team and the unranked women's squad will be
participating in seven relays, including the sprint medley relay
featuring Obinwa and his teammates Jeff Demps, Leonardo Seymore,
Terrell Wilks and Christian Taylor.
While the throwers are taking their javelins, shot puts and
discusses to Des Moines, Iowa over the weekend for the Drake
Invitational-site of the NCAA Championships starting June
8-Holloway said his runners will be focused on putting the
pageantry and scope of the competition behind them.
"I tell my girls and my guys that it's just a track meet,"
Holloways said. "Out there you can line up and run like any other
400 meter track and put the blocks down like any other meet we go
to."
For Obinwa, the meet also gives him an opportunity to gauge his
fitness and technique in the last regular season race of the
year.
During the indoor season, he said he tired down the stretch during
his training, leading him to under perform at the national
meet.
"We kind of slowed it down and then brought it back up," he said.
"So we're kind of at a mid point right now, and I still feel pretty
good and I'm not too tired yet."
