23 Raymond Graham/ Gleaner Writer WHEN THE 2024 Penn Relays carnival begins on Thursday April 25, local schools Hydel High and Kingston College (KC) will be hoping for a three-peat in the Championships of America girls’and boys’4x400 metres after capturing the event in 2022 and 2023 With the schedule of events back to its original format, where the girls will compete first, the final of the event will be on Friday, April 26 and all eyes will be on the Corey Bennett-coached Hydel girls. Hydel, under the guidance of Bennett, have been the most dominant high school girls’team in the 400m in recent years, and they look set to dominate the event once again. They are the leaders in the event with their 3:33.80 at the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships, when they turned back Edwin Allen, who finished second in 3:35.06. The Ferry-based school is strong in the event in the top three classes, with the leading athletes being Sushana Johnson in Class Three, Jodyann Daley and Natassia Fletcher in Class Two and Abigail Campbell and Alliah Baker in Class One. The multi-talented Baker was on the winning team in 2022, while Daley was on last year’s team. This is Baker’s final year and she will want to leave on a high; and with the outstanding Campbell to join up with the team for the first time at ‘Penns’, it will be difficult to bet against Hydel. Edwin Allen were second in both 2022 and 2023 and will be hoping to deny the defending champions this time around. Their charge will be led by Class One athletes Tonyan and Natasha Fox, along with Class Two athlete Kellyann Carr. Beckford was on the Edwin Allen team who were runners-up twice. She will welcome Fox’s return. Fox ran on the 2022 team but was not in the final last year due to illness. Coach Michael Dyke will be hoping that her return will bring success. KC ALL THE WAY After winning in 2022, KC were not the favourites last year where they just barely qualified for the final as the eighth-fastest qualifiers with 3:17.54. In the final, the team which included Amal Glasgow and Marcinho Rose surprised their rivals by taking an early lead and went on to score a runaway win in 3:15.62 to make it back-toback victories. Glasgow and Rose were also on the team in 2022 when they clocked 3:09.52 for the win, and both will be hoping to make it a hat-trick of wins for KC. KC are the event leaders following two big performances at the Gibson McCook Relays, where they clocked 3:09.46, and the ISSA/Boys and Girls’ Championships, where they went even faster at 3:07.65. On both occasions they turned back Jamaica College. With outstanding intermediate hurdlers Antonio Forbes and Shamar Jennings who ran in the preliminary round at Penns last year to be inserted in the team, it should be another big win for the Leaford Grant-coached KC. Hydel, KC hunting ‘three-peat’ in 4x400m at Penns Marcinho Rose Kingston College’s Amal Glasgow. Abigail Campbell Alliah Baker - Hydel High FILE PHOTOS THE MONTHLY GLEANER | APRIL 11 - MAY 11, 2024 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | PENN RELAY FEATURE Girls’Natrece East, also had double success, completing 200 victories after wins in the 100s. Johnson claimed the Class 4 200 gold, clocking 25.44 to finish ahead of teammate Tyecia McDonald, 25.91, and third-placed Mick- Kayla Gardener of Wolmer’s, 26.11. Baker was impressive in winning the Class 1 event, clocking 23.89, to finish ahead of Bridgeport High School’s Brittney McCormack, 24.44. Third went to Chevaunna Grant of Titchfield in 24.46. East retained her 200-metre tile in closing her sprint double. She clocked 24.29 seconds for the win, finishing ahead of Kimberly Wright of Immaculate, second in 24.70, with third going to Hydel’s Sashana Johnson, 24.80. Wolmer’s Boys’ School’s Mario Ross added the 200-metre title to his 100 victory on day two of the Championships, topping the Class 3 event in 22.21 seconds, as Calabar’s Ched Brown finished second, like he did in the 100, clocking 22.54. Jamaica College’s (JC’s) Oneil Brown was third in 22.73. IMPRESSIVE WIN Muschett’s Johan-Ramaldo Smythe scored an impressive win to capture the boys’ Class 2 200 metres in 21.35, finishing ahead of William Knibb’s Jabari Matheson, 21.64. JC’s Malique Dennis ended third in 21.87. In the boys’ Class 1 200, KC’s Amal Glasgow, 21.22, Wolmer’s Boys’ Gary Card, 21.23, and KC’s Marcinho Rose, 21.24 produced a blanket finish to end in that order. Led by defending champion Kemarrio Bygrave in Class 1, Jamaica College made it a clean sweep of wins in the 800 metres, clocking 1 minute, 51.75 seconds (1:51.75) to get the better of KC’s Jaquan Coke, who did 1:52.59. Maggotty’s Yoshane Bowen was third in 1:53.02. Cavel Nooks in Class 3 and Samuel Creary in Class 2, who both had successes in the 1500 metres, also got home first in the 800s. Nooks clocked a personal best 1:58.25, just missing the record of 1:58.06 done by former JC man Waqar Dacosta in 2007. Nooks’ teammate Camron Williams took second in 2:00.53, while Sydney Pagon’s Luke Plummer was third in 2:02.26. Creary revived his battle with KC’s Nahashon Ruto, beating him again. The JC man won the event 1:54.10, with Ruto close at 154.66. St Mary High’s Rasheed Grant ran on strongly for bronze in 1:57.38. Alikay Reynolds of Alphansus Davis, and Rickeisha Simms of Edwin Allen, enjoyed 800-1500 doubles as well. Reynolds’s late kick brought her the Class 3 event in 2:12.77, ahead of Edwin Allen’s Kevongaye Fowler, 2:13.19, with third going to St Mary High’s Dalia Fairweather, 2:13.20. Simms won in Class 1 in 2:08.56 ahead of Hydel’s Abigail Campbell, second in 2:09.07, with third going to Edwin’s Monique Stewart in 2:10.19. Kingston College track and field team celebrate their victory in the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships day 5 held at The National Stadium in St Andrew on Saturday, March 23. GLADSTONE TAYLOR/MULTIMEDIA PHOTO EDITOR CHAMPS Continued from, 14
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUzNTI=