Hydel smashes 4×400 record, Edwin Allen win 4×100 to close Penns

Hydel High ran a record-breaking 3:30.42 minutes in the High School Girls’ 4x400m Championship of America event to close the competition at the Penn Relays Carnival on Saturday.

Edwin Allen High won their 10th High School Girls’ 4x100m Championship of America title to match the titles won by Kingston College and Calabar High on Friday on another outstanding weekend for Jamaican high school relay teams.

Yesterday, the Hydel team of Natassia Fletcher, Abigail Campbell, Sashana Johnson, and Jody-Ann Daley smashed the championship record of 3:32.77 set by another Hydel quartet in 2022 as well as the Franklin Field and American High school record 3:31.68 seconds set in 2024 by Mount Verde Academy of Florida.

Only five national Under-20 teams have ever run faster, including a Jamaican Under-20 female team of Kerron Stewart, Sheryl Morgan, Melaine Walker, and Patricia Hall, which ran 3:29.66 at the same venue in 2001.

The splits, which were provided by the organisers, showed lead-off runner 16-year-old Fletcher running 53.06 seconds, Campbell was timed at 52.46 seconds, Johnson-52.47 seconds, and Daley- 52.28 seconds.

Bullis School of Potomac, Maryland, who returned three of the four runners who were second last year, repeated their placing with 3:33.30, the third best time in the meet’s history.

Edwin Allen placed third with 3:36.14, the 10th best time, followed by Holmwood Technical, won ran 3:38.80, while Immaculate Conception High placed sixth with 3:43.17.

Edwin Allen rebounded from last year by winning the 4x100m in a blistering 44.23 seconds, third fastest ever at the Penn Relays, upsetting two-time defending champions Hydel.

After failing to win any of the three relays last year, it was sweet redemption for the Michael Dyke-coached team as they now own the top three times ever ran in the event.

Hydel were second in 44.65 seconds, the ninth fastest of all time, with Bullis placing third in 44.99 seconds.

Holmwood finished fourth with 45.51 seconds, followed by Wolmer’s Girls, 45.57 seconds, with St Mary High ninth in 47.18 seconds.

St Jago High set a championship record 46.02 seconds to win the High School Girls’ 4x100m International final.

The team of Leigh-Ann Johnson, Adora Campbell, Shannia Campbell, and Malayia Duncan broke the record of 46.32 seconds set by Immaculate Conception in 2019.

Jamaican schools filled the top four positions, with Excelsior High second with 46.20 seconds; followed by Vere Technical, 47.30 seconds; and Mount Alvernia High, 47.49 seconds, while St Andrew High were seventh in 48.57 seconds.

The High School Girls’ 4x800m Championships of America title was won by an American school for the third straight year as the Dwight Thomas-coached IMG Academy from Florida ran a time of 8:40.51 minutes, the third fastest time ever, to win their first ever Penn Relays title.

Only record holders Vere, who ran a then World Under-20 record 8:37.71 in 1991, and Edwin Allen, who ran 8:39.22 in 2011, have run faster.

Alphansus Davis High were second in 8:46.23, followed by Edwin Allen, 8:46.57, and Holmwood in 8:47.76.