Edwin in high spirits ahead of Penns
After a two-year absence due to the pandemic, one of track and fields’ most celebrated events, the Penn Relays (Penns), returns to Franklin Field Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, today.
Jamaica’s top high school teams will be in the spotlight as they go toe to toe with their peers from North America, while the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport will be the leading collegiate team from Jamaica.
It will be the females who will be in action first today with preliminary round action in the relays and individual finals in field events. All eyes will be on Edwin Allen High School whose team will include the high school 4x100m world record holding quartet of Serena Cole, Brandy Hall, and the Clayton twins Tia and Tina. They will be aiming for the first sub-43 seconds by a girls high school team here after being the only team to have gone sub-44 seconds at Penns on three occasions.
Head coach Michael Dyke, whose team will be defending the 4x100m and 4x800m relay titles, is cautiously confident, despite the cold climate.
“The girls have been doing well since arriving in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning and are managing the conditions quite well so far,” he told STAR Sports. “They are in high spirits and they are ready and confident of more success following an excellent season so far. They are ready and raring to go and we had two training sessions coming into the meet and they looked good. Today is the qualification round of the relays and we are taking it step by step.”
Edwin Allen will be the first Jamaican team in action today as they are in the first heat of the 4x800m relays at 8 a.m. Jamaica time. They face Union Catholic High School of New Jersey, Padua Academy of Delaware, and Bronxville High School of New York. Holmwood Technical High School, the other Jamaican team in the event, will take the track at 8:12 a.m., with the 12 fastest qualifiers advancing to the final on Friday at 2:55 p.m.
Preliminary round action in the 4x100m will get under way at 9:50 p.m. where Edwin Allen will lead 12 Jamaican teams with the top nine advancing to the Championship final on Friday at 3:20 p.m. Cole, Tia Clayton, and Tina Clayton were part of Edwin Allen’s record-breaking team which clocked 43.62 seconds in 2019.
Hall was a member of the team that sprinted to a world high school record of 43.28 seconds when they won at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) in March, while Cole and the Clayton twins were part of Jamaica’s under-20 world record-breaking team at the Carifta
Games earlier this month, where they clocked 42.58 seconds.
Hydel High, St Catherine High, Immaculate Conception High, St Jago High, William Knibb Memorial High, The Queen’s School, Petersfield High, Vere Technical, and St Elizabeth Technical will also feature in the event.
Several Jamaican teams will also be involved in the preliminary round of the 4x400m, where Holmwood Technical surprised favourites Hydel in 2019 to win the title. Hydel take the track at 2:16 p.m. and are the favourites here once again with their 3:33.76 minutes clocking to win at Champs. Both Edwin Allen and St Jago are in the first heat at 1:52 p.m. while Holmwood, Petersfield and Vere Technical are drawn in the same heat at 2:04 p.m.
Other Jamaican teams competing here are Alphansus Davis High, St Catherine, Excelsior High and Petersfield. The nine fastest qualifiers will advance to tomorrow’s final at 4:05 p.m.
JAMAICAN INTEREST IN FIELD EVENT FINALS AT PENNS TODAY:
8:30 A.M.: Shot Put
- Brittania Johnson (Camperdown), Jamora Alves (St Jago), Tafada Wright (St Jago)
Discus Throw - Cedricka Williams (Holmwood), Abigail Marston (St Jago), Britannie Johnson (Camperdown), Victoria Christie (Camperdown), Maja Henry (Immaculate), Zavien Brown (Petersfield)
9 A.M.: High Jump - Annishka McDonald (St Jago), Torian Caven ( Vere Technical)
Long Jump - Serena Cole (Edwin), Kay-Lagay Clarke (St Jago)
Triple Jump - Tawani Murray (Petersfield), Jade Ann Martin (Excelsior), Rhianna Lugg (Excelsior)