“[Wilson] is not going to get pushed around,” Hill said. “In a very crowded race, he’s still going to be able to find his own speed.”

When Paison received the baton, there was congestion in the exchange area. He ran into and knocked over a runner from Clemson University, but still managed to finish his leg and keep the Crimson within striking distance from the leaders.

Mead, who was coming off of personal-best performances in the 800, was next for the relay team. His split of 1:53.73 put the squad in third place going into the race’s final leg.

Hill found himself well behind runners from Clemson and Hampton when he received the baton and knew that he would need to run his best race of the year if he hoped to improve his team’s position.

Luckily for the Crimson, that’s exactly what he did.

After keeping his distance in the first lap, Hill drew a roar from the crowd as he made a move around Hampton’s Jaleel Rogers to go into second place. The senior then began closing the gap between himself and Clemson’s anchor, Nathan Hendershot. With 300 meters to go, Hendershot made a big mistake.

“The Clemson kid looked back,” Hill said. “And when he did that, I was like, ‘Now, I have to get you.’”

Hill moved into first place with 150 meters to go and was able to hold off a late surge by Hendershot to win the heat by 0.09 seconds.

“It was a culmination of four years of him really making track and field the highest priority with his academics,” Saretsky said. “It was on display during that anchor leg. He took it to another level.”

Harvard’s other relay teams found success at Penn, as well. The women’s 4x400 meter relay team finished in sixth place with a time of 3:51.82.

The team was composed of Murphy, classmate Natalia Paine, junior Meghan Looney, and co-captain Thea Lee, who do not typically run the 400.

“It was our goal to have a lot of fun,” Murphy said. “We ran against other Ivy League schools, and we beat people. It was cool because we are usually [800-meter] runners.”

—Staff writer Dominic Martinez can be reached at dmartinez@college.harvard.edu.