SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Susquehanna University will send a total of 12 athletes to the 111th Penn Relay Carnival, which will be held from Thursday through Saturday at Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

On Thursday, the Crusader women will compete in the 4x100-meter relay which begins at 12:50 p.m. while the 4x400-meter relay team will run in the annual Centennial/MAC relay at 5:15 p.m.

On Friday, the Susquehanna men will participate in the annual Pop Haddleton MAC Relay at 5:30 p.m., while on Saturday senior Matt Hill will compete in the men's hammer throw beginning at 12:15 p.m.

Running in the women's 4x100 for the Crusaders will be senior Ashley Eyster (Mt. Pleasant Mills, PA/Selinsgrove), freshman Robin O'Hara (Wyomissing, PA/Wyomissing), sophomore Emily Lepley (Lewistown, PA/Lewistown) and senior Jen Minnig (Mount Carmel, PA/Mount Carmel).

Last season, Eyster, Lepley and Minnig were part of a Crusader 4x100 team that finished seventh in its heat with a time of 49.83 seconds. Minnig has run at the Penn Relays in each of the previous three years while Eyster will be competing for the third time.

The women's 4x400 relay team will consist of Lepley, sophomore Heather Matta (Holyoke, MA/Westfield), freshman Amanda Janicki (Pittsford, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) and senior Jess Pettengill (Watsontown, PA/Warrior Run).

Lepley and Pettengill each ran in the event last year, when the Crusaders finished 10th in a field of 14 teams with a time of 4:11.96. Matta and Janicki will be making their Penn Relays debut in this year's race.

For the men, the Crusaders will enter a 4x400-meter relay team of senior Kyle Sanders (Danville, PA/Danville), junior Sean Capkin (Wynnewood, PA/Lower Merion), sophomore Justin Hill (Horsham, PA/Hatboro-Horsham) and sophomore Joe Wassink (Staten Island, NY/Petrides School).

The Crusaders finished third in a field of 15 teams with a time of 3:26.71 last season, less than six-tenths of a second behind Dickinson. Sanders will be competing in the race for the fourth straight year while Capkin was part of the team in 2003. Wassink and Justin Hill will be in the event for the first time in a Susquehanna uniform.

Matt Hill (Williamsport, PA/Montoursville) was accepted to compete in the hammer throw after setting a school record and winning the event at the Bucknell Bison Classic on April 16 with a school-record mark of 177 feet, 4 inches that currently ranks him 11 th on the latest NCAA Division III performance list.

More than 22,000 competitors will participate in 425 races at this year's Penn Relays, which has been held annually without interruption since 1895 and is the largest and oldest relays meet in the world. Competitors range in age from 8 to 80 and represent 34 states.