Boys launch Penn Relays quest

FRANKLIN FIELD, Philadelphia:

Jamaica's high school boys will be back on familiar territory on the second day of competition at the 130th Penn Relays this morning inside Franklin Field Stadium in Philadelphia.

After a rotational format implemented in 2023, the boys, who competed on the two opening days last year, will now do so today and tomorrow.

The opening event will see teams participating in the preliminary round of the boys' Championships of America 4x800m. Four Jamaica schools will be involved in the first heat at 8 a.m. Jamaica time, Edwin Allen, Jamaica College (JC), Petersfield and St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS).

Kingston College (KC) will contest the second heat at 8:20 a.m., while Calabar High and Alphansus Davis will close out the Jamaican representation in the same time slot. The 12 fastest teams will advance to tomorrow's finals.

WELL REPRESENTED

Jamaica's high school are also be well represented in the Championship of America 4x400m relay preliminaries, where the nine fastest qualifiers will advance to tomorrow's finals. The first set of Jamaica schools will grace the track at 9:20 a.m., as Maggotty, Sydney Pagon, St Andrew Technical High School and Tacius Golding are on the start list.

While Manchester High will take the track at 10:40 a.m., the bulk of Jamaican teams will compete at 11 a.m. and beyond, with defending champions Calabar High, JC, KC and favourites Excelsior High set to feature. Mona High, Munro College, Petersfield High, Port Antonio High, STETHS, St Catherine High, St Mary High, Vere Technical, William Knibb and Wolmer's Boys' will also contest the event.

FIELD EVENT FINALS

The boys will also contest individual field event finals today, with the two reigning champions, Michael Andre Edwards of JC and Addison James of Edwin Allen High defending their titles.

Coming off winning form at the ISSA GraceKennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletics Championships and the Carifta Games in Grenada, Edwards will grace the track at 8:30 a.m. in the Championships of America triple jump final. He will be joined by the KC duo of Rekelme Hunter and Demario Clarke, Calabar High's Khaleel Samuels and Antonio Anderson and Kebika Thomas of Wolmer's Boys'.

James will defend his javelin title in the event, which gets under way at 9 a.m.

Following last year's second place finish in the boys' discus, JC's Joseph Salmon looks set to go one place better in the event, which starts at 8 a.m. He is coming off massive wins at Champs and the Carifta Games. Other main contenders from Jamaica are Dejaun Budhai and Dylan Logan of KC, along with the Calabar duo of Deandre Henry and Kamari Kennedy.

STETHS' Santino Distin will lead competitors in the boys' high jump final at 8:30 a. m. He will have as company, Tejahni Jeynes and Michael Neil of KC.

There will also be action in the long jump final at 8:30 a.m. where, Javier Cato of JC and Svein Lawrence of Petersfield are among the contestants.