Hydel seek four in a row in 4x400m

IN A VERY close finish last year, Hydel High battled all the way to win the high school girls' Championship of America 4x400 metres at last year's Penn Relays in Pennsylvania. They won in 3:34.78 over second-place Bullis High (3:35.17) and both teams will be at it again at this year's meet.

That thrilling finish earned Hydel their third title in a row and another exciting showdown is expected this Saturday at the 129th staging of the meet at the Franklin Field Stadium.

Record holders in the event with their 3:32.77 clocking in 2022, Hydel also own the second fastest time -- 3:33.99 -- set in their 2023 victory. They will be gunning for their sixth overall title. Hydel are currently tied on five wins with Edwin Allen High and will be hoping to join Holmwood Technical, who have six titles.

Bullis from Greenbelt, Maryland, got the better of Hydel earlier this season at the VA Showcase in Virginia Beach in January, winning the indoor version of the event in 3:38.96. Hydel ended second in 3:42.58.

Since then, both teams have recorded dominant performances. Hydel have turned back former Penn Relays champions Edwin Allen three times -- winning the Gibson McCook Relays in 3:36.11, the ISSA-GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships title in 3:33.88, and the Grand Slam meet in 3:34.74. Edwin Allen finished second on all three occasions.

Bullis have also been impressive. They won in a high school record -- 3:35.23 -- at the Florida Relays to open their outdoor season.

Bullis will return with all four runners from last year's second-place team -- Sydney Sutton, Kennedy Brown, Morgan Rothwell, and Tatum Lynn -- and will be hoping to avenge their narrow loss last year and in the process, break the Jamaican stranglehold on the event. The last US team to win was Eleanor Roosevelt, also from Greenbelt, Maryland, who took back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008.

Three members of last year's Hydel team -- Abigail Campbell and Nastassia Fletcher, who have both gone sub-53 seconds in the flat 400m this season, along with outstanding sprinter-hurdler Jody Ann Daley -- are back. With additional talent like Aaliyah Mullings and Shemoniqe Hazle in the mix, they remain a high-quality Hydel team.

With the revised high school schedule, where boys compete on Thursday and Friday and girls on Friday and Saturday, a large crowd is expected on the final day to witness what promises to be a thrilling showdown among the girls.

- Raymond Graham