In front of a crowd of about 50,000 people at this weekend’s Penn Relays, distance runner Matthew Boshart ’06 left it all on the track, including the bottom layer of skin on his foot.

Boshart lost his shoe in his leg of the distance-medley relay and proceeded to finish. His foot was so torn up, he said, that he needed to be carried off the track. Consistently Yale’s No. 2 800-meter runner, Boshart now may not run at Heptagonals, the Ivy League Championship Yale will host May 3 to 4.

“I lost my shoe on the handoff, so I ran the race anyway and tore up the bottom of my foot,” Boshart said. “In hindsight, it was a bad decision.”

Boshart still cannot walk without crutches. His relay team finished 13th overall (10:01.88).

“We’re kind of holding out hope for the weekend,” said associate coach David Shoehalter about Boshart’s chances for competing.

Sprinter and jumper Anthony Thomas ’03 had his best long jump all year (7.29 meters).

“I was pretty happy that I jumped that well, and that I got third,” Thomas said.

Thomas still has work to do. He was three hundredths of a meter away from qualifying for the NCAA Regional meet. He said he is confident he can post a qualifying height at Heptagonals.

Lucas Meyer ’05, already seeded second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at Heptagonals, ran his best time all season at the Penn Relays (9:03.54). Still, he was not satisfied and said he must focus in order to win Heptagonals.

Meyer, whose time was good for 12th place, was particularly taken by the environment at the Penn Relays.

“It’s a great experience,” Meyer said. “It’s a super place to run: big crowds, people yelling at the water pits. It’s a super experience.”

The Penn Relays did not feature team scoring in Yale’s division.

Meanwhile in New Haven, most members of the team competed in the Yale Invitational. They were unexpectedly joined in the 800-meter race by distance runners Robert Dwyer ’04, Josh Yelsey ’05 and Robert LoBue ’04, who returned to New Haven when their teammate for the 2-mile relay, Boshart, injured his foot. LoBue and Dwyer finished first and second, respectively (1:53.12, 1:53.89). Yelsey took fifth (1:56.12). And Courtland Keteyian ’06 placed fourth in the event (1:54.61) to give the Bulldogs every position in the top five except third.

Robert deLaski ’06 and Patrick Dantzer ’06 were Yale’s other first-place finishers. DeLaski placed first in the 400-meter sprint (49.82), and Dantzer won the 1,500-meter race (3:58.73).

The Yale Invitational did not have team scoring.

Shoehalter now must contend with hosting Heptagonals and keeping his team focused on its goal to finish in the top half of the league.

“Anything can happen at Heps,” Shoehalter said. “It’s always an interesting meet.”