Jamaicans Runs Streak To 18 Years In Boys 4x400 At Jamaica College Runs 3:05.93; Wilson Runs Record Split Of 43.99 In Scintillating Peformance

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

Photos by John Nepolitan

INTERVIEWS

PHILADELPHIA — The fastest 4x400 relay ever run by an American team wasn’t enough to win the Championship of America on Friday at the Penn Relays presented by Toyota.

The Bullis School MD boys, led by Olympian Quincy Wilson, came into the championship race with massive expectations on their shoulders, and they delivered — somewhat. They ran 3:06.31, breaking Hawthorne CA's 40-year-old national record, and Wilson split a jaw-dropping 43.99 on the anchor leg, but Kingston College broke the tape in 3:05.93, keeping the 18-year-old Jamaican win streak alive.

“I’m proud of them,” Bullis coach Joe Lee said of his squad after the race. “I’m proud of them. But, you know, we’re back to the drawing board. We’ll never quit. We’ll never relent. The fun part about this — everyone keeps using the word rivalry, so I’ll use it too — is that they won’t either.”

Last year, a fall in the final sunk Bullis’s chances; Lee described that moment as “heartbreaking.” This year, he said, it wasn’t quite the same feeling — still bittersweet, but with a lot more positivity.

“We’re excited about the national record,” Lee said. “We’re really grateful to take down a record that’s been around for 40 years. I haven’t even comprehended that yet. But, at the same time, we came here to compete. We came here to win.”

Mickey Green and Cam Homer led things off for the Bulldogs. When Homer passed the baton to Colin Abrams, they were less than half a second off of the lead. Abrams, primarily a mid-distance runner, split a 47.37 and handed the baton to Wilson about a second and a half back. At that point, Lee said, he had an “internal clock” in his head, but he wasn’t worried at all.

“I will never, and hopefully you all out there watching this will never, ever doubt Quincy Wilson,” Lee said.

Wilson caught up with the field on the final turn, and his charge down the home stretch got the Franklin Field crowd as loud as it had been all weekend (and perhaps nothing will top it Saturday).

Wilson said, as per usual, that the clock was not a factor to him at all.

“I wasn’t really thinking about a time,” Wilson said. “I was just trying to get our team back, trying to get us to first place.”

Wilson’s 43.99 split was the fastest ever by a high schooler at the Penn Relays (and possibly ever). That adds to a laundry list of accomplishments for him and his team over the past year, including an Olympic gold medal, the national record in the 400 meters, and multiple relay national records.

He said he told his teammates before the race that, if they were feeling any nerves or pressure, to “put it all on me.”

“I’ve been on the biggest stages, and I know what it takes to get it done,” Wilson said. “So, like I said, throw the pressure on me. That’s the best thing they can do because if they’re gonna throw the pressure on me, I’m gonna throw it back on God.”

New Jersey dominates DMRs

The Union Catholic girls could have easily defended their title in the 4x800 relay championship, but they decided to shake things up, and it paid off — they won the girls distance medley relay Championship of America and broke the meet record, breaking the tape in 11:24.53, good for No. 4 all-time.

Sophia Thompson opened things up with a 3:28.21 opening leg, building a six-second lead by the first handoff. From there, all emphasis was on the clock. Despite running completely solo, Paige Sheppard threw down a 4:41.65 anchor leg, putting her team four seconds below the previous meet record

Taylor Aska, who ran the 400-meter leg, said getting a third Penn Relays wheel (the Champions of America earn giant wheel-shaped plaques) was a perfect representation of the success of the Union Catholic program.

“For us to come out here and… win three straight wheels in a row is not something common at all,” Aska said, “and it just showcases all the hard work and effort that we continuously put in day to day.”

The Christian Brothers Academy boys completed the New Jersey sweep of the DMRs and defended their own title, taking the win in 9:59.17. Joe Barrett anchored in 4:09.56, beating Ridgefield CT and Episcopal Academy PA by two seconds. 

Barrett has had a long road back to racing since last fall; his iron levels were extremely low over the winter, and he hadn’t raced in nearly two months before Friday.

“Coming into today, I was obviously a little worried because I didn’t know how that last 200 would feel, even though I’ve been kinda practicing that, doing short sprints and stuff,” Barrett said. “I was still a little bit nervous because, you know, it’s hard to come back.”

Rockhurst MO won the boys 4x800 Championship of America in a time of 7:33.83, charging past St. John's College DC in the home stretch. Anchor Henry Acorn took the baton about half a second back, but he recorded the fastest split of the race, a 1:51.72. Rockhurst’s win was only the second by an American team in the last decade.

The Americans couldn’t end Jamaica’s dominance in the 4x100, though; Calabar won the Championship of America in 39.79. Archbishop Carroll came in second, despite running its fastest time ever, a 40.04. Anchor Jake Odey-Jordan predicted that a sub-40 performance is on the horizon for his squad.

40-year-old Record Tumbles In Girls 3000

Talk about a kick. Sophomore Blair Bartlett (Lawrenceville NJ) closed in 68 seconds to take the win in the girls 3,000 meters, breaking the tape in 9:13.60. Without that last lap, she still likely would have won the race — she beat former NXN champion Addy Ritzenhein by seven seconds — but it took all of that effort to dip under the meet record, which was set at 9:15.30 in 1985 by Cathy Schiro-O'Brien.

“I knew there was a chance that I could maybe just go for it,” Bartlett said, “and I wanted to give it the best shot I could for my team and for myself.”

It was a hello-world moment for Bartlett, a sophomore who ran a 19-second personal best and did not run cross country. It is also an all-time New Jersey best. 

Dylan McElhinney (Hunter College NY) nearly took down the meet record in the girls mile, too, but a fairly tactical first half killed those chances. After coming through 809 meters in 2:22.85, she said she knew a few moves were coming. She covered all of them, maintaining her lead and closing in 66.93 for her last 400. Her time was 4:39.89.

“In the final strides, I was like, ‘Please don’t fall down, please don’t fall down,’” McElhinney said. “I definitely gave it all I had, and yeah, I’m pretty proud of that last lap.”

Zachary Youngblood won the boys mile, which turned out to be even more tactical — something that likely allowed Youngblood to win, in his opinion.

He said he trusted his kick, and just like McElhinney, he knew he was going to need it when he came through 809 meters in 2:12.04.

He ran 62.42 and 55.63 for his last two laps for an overall time of 4:10.07. 

Trent Daniels (Gainesville VA) won the boys 3,000 meters in 8:10.43, and as with the rest of the distance races, it was a kicker’s affair. Daniels ran a blistering 2:02.20 for his last 800 meters, blazing ahead of Will Sheets (Covington Catholic KY) in the home stretch. It was a stunning performance for Daniels, a junior, whose indoor 3,000 PR was 8:39.

Oji Defends Shot Put Title

It was never in doubt. Jessica Oji took the lead with 50-11.50 on her first attempt, and no one else surpassed 50 feet. The Livingston NJ senior and Penn commit extended her lead over the course of her field series, tossing a 52-4.50 on her last attempt, and she defended her Penn Relays title in the girls high school shot put.

“It feels amazing,” Oji said. “Just coming here on home turf… defending this title, that was one of my biggest goals coming into this season. It’s just amazing.”

Oji said she had a bit of a chip on her shoulder knowing that Franklin Field was going to be her home turf next year.

“Coming in here, I was like, ‘Okay, this is where I’m gonna throw next year. I gotta assert a little bit of dominance,’” Oji said.

Two other Americans won field events: Veronica Vacca (Mount St. Joseph PA) in the pole vault and Lilly Ver Beek (James River VA) in the long jump. Vacca, the New Balance Nationals Indoor pole vault champion, cleared 13-3, about five inches shy of the meet record, to take the win. She said she was not expecting to win at all heading into the competition, but after clearing a few bars, she gained a lot of confidence.

“My brain kind of shifted after I cleared the second bar,” Vacca said. “I was like, ‘Okay, we cleared a bar. We didn’t no-height. Let’s lock in and dial in on this.’ And then I really, really started to want to win.”

Ver Beek jumped 19-11 to take the long jump. Chloe Palmer (St. Elizabeth Tech JAM) was in the lead for the majority of the competition, but Ver Beek surpassed her on her last attempt, winning by just two inches.

Other than Oji, Vacca and Ver Beek, it was the same story as Thursday: the Jamaicans dominated at their home away from home, taking 10 of the 21 podium spots across the seven field events. 

Jamaica dominated the discus in particular, taking all of the top four spots. Najhada Seymoure (Excelsior) won that event with a heave of 167-4, breaking through on her fourth attempt after some early struggles. 

“At first, through the first couple of throws, it wasn’t going great,” Seymoure said. “But I came back for the fourth one with the mentality that, ‘I have to win because I can.’”

Able Mills (St. Catherine), Jamelia Young (Clarendon) and Abigail Bennett (Merl Grove) took second, third and fourth, respectively.

Jade Ann Dawkins, meanwhile, had arguably the most impressive individual performance of the day, becoming only the second athlete to win the girls triple jump three times at the Penn Relays. Her winning jump of 43-3 was the second furthest in meet history.

Dawkins said she was excited to represent Jamaica.

“It means a lot,” Dawkins said. “I really love my country and I get to showcase my country on a big stage once more. It really motivates me.”

Dior-Rae Scott (St. Augustine’s BAH) led a Bahamian 1-2-3 finish in the girls javelin, throwing 159-4 for the win.

Shanniqua Williams won the girls high jump and came within an inch of the meet record, clearing 5-11.50.