PHILADELPHIA – Team USA’s men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams, the defending world and Olympic champions, will seek to maintain their status as world-beaters Saturday at USA vs. The World, Presented by Verizon, at the 110th running of the Penn Relays. Doing so will require American gold medal-winners Tyree Washington, Alvin Harrison, Jearl Miles-Clark, Angelo Taylor and Jearl Miles-Clark to turn back challenges from international medalists Felix Sanchez, Alleyne Francique, Natalya Nazarova and Gregory Haughton, among others.

The meet will be broadcast live on Saturday from 4:30-6 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC.

Nearly 150 athletes from 10 countries around the globe will compete at this year’s USA vs. The World, held annually at the Penn Relays since 2000 and featuring men’s and women’s 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400-meter relays. Team USA swept all six relay races – the men’s and women’s 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 – at the 2003 edition of USA vs. The World, but the competition has gotten stronger in 2004 as national teams around the world seek to qualify for the Olympic Games. Team USA will enter two teams each – USA Red and USA Blue – in the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays at USA vs. The World.

The top three countries from the 2003 World Outdoor Championships (Team USA-Russia-Jamaica) and 2000 Olympic Games (Team USA-Jamaica-Russia) will do battle in the Sunny D Intense Sport Drink women’s 4x400m relay. Olympic relay gold medalists Jearl Miles-Clark – a 2-time gold medalist and former world champion at 400 meters – and Monique Hennagan will be joined in the Team USA relay pool that also includes 2003 world outdoor relay gold-medal leadoff runner Me’Lisa Barber, relay veteran and 3-time NCAA 400m champion Suzianne Reid and 2003 world indoor 200m gold medalist Michelle Collins.

Reigning world indoor 400m and 4x400m champion Natalya Nazarova and 2001-2002 Russian 400m champion Olesya Zykina highlight the Russian relay pool. Olesya ran lead-off on the world championships silver medal-winning team, while Nazarova was anchor. Tatyana Levina ran with Nazarova on the Russian 4x400m relay team that broke the world indoor record (3:23.88) at the 2004 World Indoor Championships, and she also is in the Russian pool for USA vs. The World.

The Verizon men’s 4x400m promises to be equally exciting. Team USA is the most dominant 4x400m relay team in history, and another strong relay pool should help keep that tradition going. Tyree Washington, the #1 world-ranked 400m runner of 2003, heads the list. Washington won the 2003 world indoor title, was part of the gold-medal 4x400m relay team at 1997 and 2003 world outdoors, and won 400m silver at 2003 world outdoors. He also is the 1997 world outdoor bronze medalist. Joining him is 2003 world outdoor 400m and 4x400m gold medalist Jerome Young; 2000 Olympic 400m silver medalist and 4x400m gold medalist Alvin Harrison, 2000 Olympic 400m hurdles gold medalist Angelo Taylor, and two-time world outdoor relay gold medalist Derrick Brew.

Three of the four runners from Jamaica’s bronze medal-winning relay team at the 2000 Olympics will take the track, as Olympic lead-off leg and 2003 world outdoor fourth-place finisher Michael Blackwood, Olympic bronze medalist Gregory Haughton, and Olympic finalist Danny McFarlane are in the Jamaican pool.

Just as strong a lineup is featured in the World All-Star team, which will include two-time world 400m hurdles champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, who went undefeated in the hurdles in 2002 and 2003 and is one of the most dominant athletes in all of track and field. Born in New York and raised in California, Sanchez is a heavy favorite to win Olympic gold in 2004. Joining him on the All Stars will be 2004 world indoor 400m champion Alleyne Francique of Grenada, Gary Kikaya of Congo, and Sofiene Labidi of Tunisia.

Other countries competing in 4x400m relays at USA vs. The World include Canada, the Bahamas and Liberia. Final relay pools will be announced Friday. Final lineups will be announced Saturday.