‘We are a prepared team’

One of the most eagerly awaited events among high school teams at this weekend’s Penn Relays is the High School Boys Championships of America 4x400m, with the focus surrounding teams like defending champions Kingston College (KC), event leaders Jamaica College (JC), and Bullis High School out of the United States, led by outstanding Olympic Games 4x400m gold medallist Quincy Wilson.

KC will be aiming to make it a historic five wins in a row, while JC, with the top two times in the event at 3:08.18 and 3:08.20, will be hoping to make up for last year’s fifth-place finish. Bullis, with Wilson — who ran the fastest high school 400m split of 43.99 seconds, breaking his previous best of 44.37 — will be hoping to break the Jamaican dominance and end his high-school career at the Penn Relays on a high.

While the focus remains on the three teams, lying in wait and ready to pounce, is last year’s fourth-place finisher, Excelsior High School.

A year ago, the David Riley-coached team was very competitive in the event and actually led going into the penultimate changeover. With their 4x100m relay team expected to win earlier in the meet, this could serve as added motivation.

Riley is extremely confident ahead of the meet despite a season’s best 3:10.02 for a third-place finish at the ISSA GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

“We count our chances well. We are yet to run our best team all season because of various challenges and scheduling concerns,” said Riley.

“But we are prepared for the challenges that face us at Penn Relays. We are a prepared team, and we trust our preparation and attention to detail to help us navigate the opportunities Penn Relays present,” he added.

Excelsior will see the return of Kishawn Hoffman and Demarco Bennett from last year’s team, and with the outstanding Class Two 400m hurdles record-breaker at Champs, Jaedan Campbell, along with Gregory McFarlane expected to be inserted into the team, a powerful unit appears primed to go all the way.

Fans will get an appetiser in Friday’s preliminary round with KC and Bullis locking horns in the same heat.