Hydel, Bullis set for repeat of Penns epic

AFTER AN extremely close finish last year, Hydel High School, and Bullis High School will renew their battle for supremacy in the Girls’ High School Championships of of America 4x400 metres at the Penn Relays this weekend.

Last time out, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hydel won in 3:34.78, just ahead of Bullis, who clocked 3:35.17.

That thrilling finish earned them their third title in a row, and another exciting showdown is expected this Saturday.

Fresh off their ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships title where they upstaged defending champions Edwin Allen High, the Corey Bennett-coached Hydel will be riding high. They’ll be aiming for a fourth straight win in the event.

Record holders in the event with their 3:32.77 clocking in 2022, Hydel also owns the second-fastest time – 3:33.99 – set in their 2023 victory.

They are currently tied on five wins with Edwin Allen High and hoping to join Holmwood Technical, who have six titles to their name.

This year may not go any easier with the school from Greenbelt, Maryland, showing they are up for the fight, beating Hydel in January at the VA Showcase in Virginia Beach. Bullis clocked 3:38.96 to win the indoor event while Hydel finished second in 3:42.58.

Since then, both teams have gone on to be even more impressive.

Hydel turned back former Penn Relays champions Edwin Allen three times – winning the Gibson McCook Relays in 3:36.11, the ISSA Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships in 3:33.88, and the Grand Slam meet in 3:34.74.

Bullis won the New Balance Indoor Championships in early March with a high-school record, 3:35.54. A few weeks later, they followed up with another high-school record – 3:35.23 – at the Florida Relays, to open their outdoor season.

Bullis will return all four runners from last year’s second-placed team – Sydney Sutton, Kennedy Brown, Morgan Rothwell, and Tatum Lynn – and will be hoping to avenge their narrow loss 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 winning team – Abigail Campbell and Nastassia Fletcher, who have both gone sub-53 seconds in the flat 400 metres this season, along with outstanding sprinter-hurdler Jody Ann Daley – are back.

With talent like Aaliyah Mullings and Shemoniqe Hazle in the mix, this remains a high-quality Hydel team, despite the loss of team captain Alliah Baker.

With none of their members competing at the recent Carifta Games in Trinidad and Tobago, they should be well rested and ready to go all the way again.

Despite the strength of Hydel and Bullis, former champions Edwin Allen – featuring standout Kelly-Ann Carr – along with Holmwood and Union Catholic of New Jersey (third place last year), will be hoping to cause an upset.