First marquee day for Penns’ girls

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania:

WHEN THE 127th staging of the Penn Relays, the biggest relay carnival in the world, gets under way this morning at the Franklin Field Stadium in Philadelphia, it will see a record number of athletes from Jamaica competing, with more than 400 athletes representing 30 schools competing over the three days of competition.

Unlike former years, when the high school girls get into action first, the boys will jump-start the carnival and go through until tomorrow. The girls will begin their sojourn on Friday and end on Saturday.

This will be the first time the girls will be showcasing their talent on the final day, which usually has the largest crowd in attendance.

This morning’s competition will get under way at 8:00 a.m. Jamaica time with the Championships of America 4x800-metre qualifying round and the finals of the High School Boy’s Discus throw.

Former champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) will compete in the first heat.

Three other Jamaican teams will also be involved in first-round action, with Calabar High School contesting Heat Two, defending champions Jamaica College (JC) running out of Heat Three, and Kingston College (KC) making their bid from Heat Four.

The finals will be contested at 5:50 p.m. tomorrow.

MAJOR UPSET

Led by defending champions Camperdown, who pulled off a major upset last year, 14 teams from Jamaica are down to compete in the preliminary round of the Championships of America 4x100-metre relay today.

The other teams hoping to advance to tomorrow’s final are Edwin Allen, Calabar, Excelsior, Jamaica College, KC, Herbert Morrison Technical, Petersfield, STETHS, St Andrew Technical High School, St Catherine High, St George’s College, St Jago High, and first-timers Penwood High School.

Seventeen of the country’s teams will do battle in the boys’ 4x400-metre relays. Former champions Calabar will be one of four Jamaican teams in the opening heat, which will also have Camperdown, Wolmer’s Boys’ School, and Tacius Golding for company. In this heat will be last year’s second-place team, Bullis out of Maryland, who are expected to be the Jamaicans’ biggest threat in tomorrow’s final.

The other Jamaican teams in the event are STETHS, Papine, Maggoty, St Andrew Technical High School, Dinthill, Excelsior, Petersfield, Edwin Allen, Ferncourt, St Jago, Manchester High, and defending champions KC.

Twenty-two athletes are down to contest five field events finals today.

Kobe Lawrence of Calabar, the World Under-20 shot put silver medallist and Carifta Games Under-20 champion, should improve on last year’s second-place finish, with Carifta Games silver medallist Shaquan Dunn of St Jago looking set for a top-three finish as well.

Ricardo Hayles of Clarendon will lead a strong line-up in the boys’ discus throw, which includes the likes of Racquil Broderick and Zachary Campbell of JC, along with Yelani Brown of Petersfield.

The KC duo of Aaron McKenzie and Isaiah Patrick will battle JC’s Chavez Penn in the high jump.

In the long jump, JC’s Uroy Ryan will lead the way where St Jago High School’s Demario Prince and KC’s Nathan Wade are his main dangers.

Trevon Hamer and his JC teammate, Euan Young, should fight for top spot in the triple jump.