Wolmer’s, Munro land Penn Relays titles
PHILADELPHIA, USA — Munro College won their first ever Championships of Americas relay title at the Penn Relays, and Wolmer’s Boys’ retained their 4x100m crown as the 117th Penn Relays Carnival came to an end under a glorious sun bathed conditions at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Munro remained unbeaten all year in the 4x400m as they won in 3 minutes 11.31 seconds, while earlier, Wolmer’s surprised the St Elizabeth school which had run the fastest time in the 4x100m heats.
The team of Waynee Hyman, Rolando Reid, Kaneil Harrison and Delano Williams held off Junipero Serra of California as they led from the start for their first ever win at this level after winning a consolation 4x100m title some years ago.
Coach Neil Harrison said that after the “disappointment” of the 4x100m finals, the 4x400m win was “wonderful”.
After running 3 minutes 12.95 seconds in the morning for the fastest qualifying time, Harrison said the win was welcomed and his first words when joining the team on the infield was “finally.”
Serra was second while Wolmers, last year’s winners, took third place. Manchester High were fifth, Jamaica College (JC) sixth and St Jago eighth.
Kingston College (KC) were late for the heats of the 4x400m in the morning when the meet was running 15 minutes ahead of schedule and were not allowed to take part.
Earlier, Wolmer’s Boys’ retained their Championships of Americas 4x100m title with 40.42 seconds running in lane nine with the team of Robert Bailey, Odean Skeen, Julian Forte and Yannick Hart on the anchor coming in for Ashani Mitchell, who ran in the heats on Friday.
Jamaican teams finished in the top six places with Moore’s Island of the Bahamas in seventh position and Americas Knightdale of North Carolina in eighth place.
Wolmer’s were winning a major sprint relay for the first time this season, upsetting favorites Munro, 40.52, after running 40.95 seconds in the heats and KC 40.62 seconds for third.
JC were fourth in 40.80, followed by STETHS, 41.03, followed by St George’s College, 41.05.
Wolmer’s coach David Riley told the Sunday Observer he was always confident after he saw how the team ran the heats on Friday.
“I saw the heats and I just told then to just run their legs and not worry about anything,” he said.
Camperdown won the ‘Small Schools’ consolation finals in 41.69 seconds, while Herbert Morrison were third for the second straight year, running 41.94, this time behind Junipero Serra of California.
Manchester were sixth in 42.75.
The 4x800m was a major disappointment as Holmwood finished fifth in 7:46.70, well behind winners Long Beach Poly, 7:31.69.
KC were seventh and St Jago 11th.
