Manchester High School

PHILADELPHIA, USA - Jamaican Boys' high schools completed their second clean sweep of the Championships of America's titles in three years at the Penn Relays after winning the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800m events on yesterday's final day of the 114th staging on a chilly day here yesterday. Cheered on by thousands of Jamaicans in the second highest Saturday turnout of 49, 831 (three day total of 113,392), Calabar won the 4x100m (40.74 seconds), St Jago took the 4x400m (3 minutes 15.66secs), while Manchester High won their first ever relay event at the meet, taking the 4x800m in 7 minutes, 43.22secs.

Prior to this, the last time Jamaicans swept all three events on a Saturday was in 2006 when Camperdown won the 4x100m and 4x400m and Holmwood Technical the 4x800m.

The girls won two relays on Friday, Edwin Allen retaining the 4x100m while Holmwood ran the second fastest time ever to win the 4x800m.
There were two individual winners yesterday as Kingston College's Andre Peart won the 400m hurdles and Calabar's Andrew Riley won the high jump.

Despite earlier losing IAAF World Championships 200m winners Ramone McKenzie to an ankle injury during the 4x400m heats, Boys' Champs Class 1 winners Calabar crossed the line first in the 4x100m. Once again, record holders and red hot favourites, St Jago, failed to finish the race, dropping the baton in the second change-over.
St Jago failed to finish in the final at Champs after dropping the baton as well.

The team of Riley, Earle Lee - who replaced McKenzie - Warren Weir and Oshane Bailey ran 40.74 seconds to win Calabar's fourth title at Penns and first since 1991.

Team captain Riley told the Sunday Observer they were confident going into the race and motivated to do well after McKenzie's injury.
Camperdown were second in 41.04 seconds, St George's third in 42.33; Herbert Morrison fifth and William Knibb seventh.

Holmwood were second in the Small Schools Consolation Final behind Queens Royal College of Trinidad & Tobago. St Elizabeth Technical were seventh and Bridgeport eighth.

In the Large Schools final, Wolmer's were second, beaten by Western Branch of Virginia.

Manchester's first win came after a courageous 1:53.0 anchor leg by Alwayne Green, who got the baton in third place some 20 metres behind the North Penn and the Calabar teams.

He first passed the fading Calabar runner, then took on the North Penn athlete 250 metres from home, blowing by to win by two strides and collapsing at the end.

Darren Lindsay led off with a 1:57.9 seconds, handing over to Jermaine Morris (1:53.6), who in turned carried the baton to Ajai Robinson (1:58.7).

Calabar were third in 7:47.43 while Jamaica College were ninth.
St Jago brought the curtains down for the Jamaican schools with a well planned run in the mile relay, making up for their earlier disappointment in the 4x100m to secure their first relay win of the season without Yohan Blake, who did not make it to Philadelphia.

Andre Walsh, Riker Hylton, Adolphus Nevers and Nickel Ashmeade won in 3 minutes 15.66secs - the slowest winning time since 1984.
Camperdown were fifth in 3:19.1, Holmwood sixth in 3:19.84 and Wolmer's eighth in 3:26.37.

Peart won the 400m hurdles in 52.25 seconds to be the first Jamaican winner since Josef Robertson of Wolmer's in 2006 and the ninth overall.

Champs high jump winner Riley won on his first trip here, clearing 2.06m to edge KC's Jonathon Reid and St Jago's Machel Baker on the countback after all three cleared the same height.

KC's Tarik Bachelor failed to retain his long jump title, beaten by Nansemond River's James Taylor (7.28m to 7.27m).

JC's K'Don Samuels was sixth in the pole vault with 4.35m.