JC a cinch in Penn Relays 4x100m

AFTER being dethroned of their overall boys’ title by Kingston College at the recent ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs), a pumped up Jamaica College (JC) team will leave the island early next week for the Penn Relays in Philadelphia with their sights set on dominating the prestigious relays.

The Neil Harrison-coached team looks set to start their winning run in the first final, the Championships of America High School Boys’ 4x100 metres which is scheduled for Saturday, April 30 at 1:04 p.m. (Jamaica time).

With a season’s best of 39.43 seconds by their Class One quartet of Jaiden Reid, Hector Benjamin, Dwight Downer and Deandra Watkin, JC are the fastest high school male team going to the Penn Relays and they will be seeking their second title here after victory in 2014. They will also be aiming to improve on their eighth-place finish in 2019.

With the team likely to make a change and add Class Two sprint double winner Mark Anthony Miller to their line-up, JC will look to go even faster and it will take a brave man to bet against any quartet sent out by coach Harrison in this event.

Defending champions St Jago scored a close win in 2019 to upset Kingston College and they will be hoping to pull off a surprise victory again. Like JC, they have gone sub-40 seconds this season after their second-place finish in the Class One final at Champs in 39.89 and with the likes of Jahville Granville and the versatile Gregory Prince in their line-up they will be hoping for their fourth Penn Relays title in the event.

Calabar High, Camperdown High and Kingston College are all tied on eight victories each in the event and one of them will be hoping to break the deadlock and get title number nine, but it is going to be a hard task to do so as all three will have to be at their brilliant best to lower the colours of JC.