Hydel High will start their quest for a first-ever sweep of the High School girls’ 4x100m, 4x400m and 4x800m Championships of America titles at the Penn Relays Carnival at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, today.

After winning back to back 4x100m-4x400m doubles in 2023 and 2024, Hydel have upped the stakes and will seek to join Vere Technical and Holmwood Technical, who won at least three titles in one championships at least once.

Hydel’s Head Coach Corey Bennett says they will not have things easy.

“Its going to be very tough” he told the Jamaica Observer. “In the 4×100, we go up against a tough Edwin team and in the 4×400, we are up against an excellent Bullis team, which has retained their same four girls from last year. We aim to make it fun and competitive, though.”

The all-conquering Vere 1991 team won four titles including the Distance Medley Relay which will never be done again as a rule change does not allow teams to run both longer relays.

Vere also won the treble in 1988 while Holmwood did it three times, in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

Preliminaries of the 4x800m and the 4x100m will be run today with the heats and finals of the 4x400m set for Saturday.

Shaniqua Williams of St Andrew High and Jade Ann Dawkins of St Jago High, both ranked second coming into the championships, will be seeking to retain their high and triple jump titles respectively.

Hydel, Holmwood, Edwin Allen High and Alphansus Davis High will contest the preliminaries of the 4x800m relays.

Twenty-two schools led by Hydel and Edwin Allen will seek to qualify for the 4x100m relay final set for Saturday afternoon, including Wolmer’s Girls, St Jago High and Holmwood.

Dawkins will seek to join former Vere athlete Kimberly Williams as the only three-time winner of the triple jump title and in the absence of number one-ranked Jaeda Robinson of Immaculate Conception will hope to make it three-straight.

She will be joined by Sabrina Atkinson of Hydel and Mikayla Longmore of Holmwood.

Wolmer’s’ Danielle Noble has beaten her former teammate Williams at all the major championships so far this year and will hope to flip the results from last year when she was second.

Noble won at the Carifta Trials, ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships and last weekend’s Carifta Games in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where both cleared 1.80m.

Carifta Under-17 champion Sackoya Palmer of St Mary High, Zavien Bernard of Hydel, Amelia Montaque and Kijonna Lee of Vere are also set to compete.

St Elizabeth Technical’s Chloe Palmer, who was fourth last year, is the top-ranked athlete in the long jump while St Catherine High’s Rohanna Sudlow, who was third last year, is ranked third again this year. Edwin Allen High’s Deijanae Bruce will also compete.

Marla-Kay Lampart, who threw 17.44m in the shot put at the Carifta Games, is ranked second, but if she can reproduce last weekend’s form the championship record 16.33m will be in trouble.

The Excelsior High pair of Kimeka Smith and Gianna Clayton will also take part in the contest.

St Catherine High’s Able Mills is top-ranked in the discus throw but Shamoyea Morris of Edwin Allen, Excelsior High’s Najhada Seymoure, Vere’s Ramona Freemantle, and Jamelia Young of Clarendon College will all hope to push her.

Hydel’s Natassia Burrell will hope to be the second Jamaican to win the javelin throw after Taneisha Blair of Holmwood in 2006.