PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brannon Kidder led Penn State to the distance medley relay championship at the Penn Relays on Friday, breaking away from the pack with a blistering anchor leg.

Kidder ran the closing 1,600-meter leg in 4 minutes, 0.77 seconds as the Nittany Lions finished in 9:35.51.

Robby Creese opened with a 2:57.03 in the 1,200, Alex Shisler ran the 400 in 47.77 and Isaiah Harris, of Lewiston, clocked in at 1:49.96 in the 800 for Penn State. It was the sixth overall men’s distance medley relay title for the Nittany Lions.

“They executed the race plan to perfection,” Penn State coach John Gondak said. “It’s always a little bit nerve-racking when every team is still there going into the anchor leg — and there were some outstanding teams today. But Brannon just had a great finish like he always does and brought home the victory for Penn State.”

Georgetown came in second at 9:36.32 and host Penn finished third in 9:37.25. Oregon, the 2014 and 2015 winner in the event, didn’t bring its men’s team to Penn Relays this year.

Kidder and Creese were both part of the Nittany Lions’ last distance medley relay title in 2013, making Friday’s win to bookend their college career even more gratifying.

“I got a little spoiled winning one my freshman year,” Kidder said. “It makes you realize how special it is to get the wheel. They all mean something different.”

In the other marquee long-distance race on Day 2 of the three-day meet at Franklin Field, Villanova used a big kick from Siofra Cleirigh Buttner to win the women’s 6,000-meter relay in 17:44.29.

Buttner, the only sophomore on a relay team with freshmen Bella Burda, Sammy Bockoven and Nicole Hutchinson, ran her anchor leg in 4:24.3 to edge Oregon, Georgetown and Indiana in a dramatic four-team race.

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