Ja teams to battle Union Catholic in girls’ 4x800m at Penns

WHEN THE 128th staging of the Penn Relays gets under way in Franklin Field, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, the first event on the track for high school girls will be the preliminary round of the 4x800 metres at 8 a.m. Jamaica time.

Edwin Allen High, Holmwood Technical, Alphansus Davis High and Hydel High will be the four Jamaican teams that will be contesting the event. They will be hoping to advance to Friday’s final in their bid to upstage defending champions Union Catholic of New Jersey.

Last year, Edwin Allen left the carnival without a win. The seven-time winners of the event who were second last year will be hoping to get back to winning ways after back-to-back victories in 2019 and 2022.

Their team will include two members of last year’s team: Monique Stewart and Rickeisha Simms. With their 9:02.34 clocking to win at the Milo Western Relays, they are the top Jamaican team heading to the Penn Relays.

Holmwood, with 11 wins, are the most successful school in the event and will be hoping to make it win number 12 this time around. Their last win in the event came in 2018, and with a season’s best of 9:02.58, when finishing a close second to Edwin Allen at the Milo Western Relays, they must fancy their chances. They have a quality squad led by twin sisters Jovi and Cindy Rose, Terrica Clarke, and Florence Nafamba.

Surprise winners at the Gibson McCook Relays with 9:02.83, Alphansus Davis will be hoping for their first win at the Penn Relays. Hydel, the hot favourites for both the 4x100m and 4x400m, have a quality team and will be looking to top this event and end the meet with three wins.

The Jamaicans will, however, have to be at their very best to topple the defending champions, who will start big favourites to make it back-to-back wins. Their winning time of 8:44.98 last year is one of the fastest times ever done at the carnival in the event. Two members of last year’s team are back, and they showed their good form a few weeks ago at the Arcadia Invitational in California. They broke one of the oldest records, 8:58.40 set in 2002 by A Phillip Randolph of New York, with a new mark of 8:53.48, and they will be very hard to beat.