Boys bow into action at Penns today

FRANKLIN FIELD, Philadelphia

High school boys will be back in a familiar time slot when the second day of competition at the 130th staging of the Penn Relays gets under way today in Philadelphia.

The boys who competed on the two opening days last year will be in action today and tomorrow, the final two days, following the rotation policy that was implemented in 2023.

On the track this morning will be the preliminary round of the Championships of America 4x800m. Four Jamaican boys’ teams will be involved in the first heat at 8 a.m. Jamaica time as Edwin Allen High, Jamaica College, Petersfield High, and St Elizabeth Technical are down to compete.

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

Jamaican teams will also be well represented in the preliminary round of the Championship of America 4x400m, where the nine fastest qualifiers will advance to tomorrow’s final.

The bulk of the Jamaican teams will compete at 11 a.m. and beyond, with defending champions Calabar High, along with Jamaica College, Kingston College, and favourites Excelsior High set to feature. Other teams, including Mona High, Munro College, Petersfield High, Port Antonio High, St Elizabeth Technical, St Catherine High, St Mary High, Vere Technical, William Knibb Memorial High, and Wolmer’s Boys will also contest the event.

Today will also see the boys contesting field events finals where two defending champions, Michael-Andre Edwards of Jamaica College and Addison James of Edwin Allen, will defend their titles.

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

James will begin the defence of his javelin throw title at 9 a.m.

Following last year’s second-place finish in the discus, Jamaica College’s Joseph Salmon looks set to go one place better when he competes in the event at 8 a.m. He is coming off massive wins at Champs and the Carifta Games. Dejaun Budhai and Dylan Logan of Kingston College, along with the Calabar duo of Deandre Henry and Kemari Kennedy, will also contest the event.

St Elizabeth Technical’s Santino Distin heads competitors in the high jump final at 8:30 a. m. He will have as company Tejahni Jeynes and Michael Neil of Kingston College.

There will also be action in the long jump final at 8:30 a.m. where Javier Cato of Jamaica College and Svein Lawrence of Petersfield will contest the event.