The 130th edition of the historic Penn Relays Carnival wrapped up on Saturday at Philadelphia’s iconic Franklin Field, where inclement cold and wet weather shook up final results and left Jamaica’s high school relay squads with just one Championship of America title — a downshift from pre-event expectations that marked their lowest title haul in decades.
Jamaica College (JC), the most highly anticipated Jamaican squad heading into Saturday’s final competition, entered the day leading qualifying in both the 4x100m and 4x800m Championship of America races, with fans and analysts predicting multiple gold medals for the powerhouse program. When the final baton crossed the finish line across all events, however, JC’s 4x100m win stood as the only Jamaican Championship of America title of the meet.
That 4x100m victory still cemented Jamaica’s unmatched 20-year stranglehold on the event: starting from a substitution for preliminary runner Malique Dennis, Makaeean Woods teamed up with Nathaniel Martin, Elijah Smeikle, and anchor Kai Kelly to clock a winning time of 40.03 seconds. This marks JC’s fourth all-time title in the event, and their first since 2023, stretching Jamaica’s undefeated streak in the High School Boys’ 4x100m Championship of America all the way back to 2005. Kingston College (KC) of Jamaica took second place with a 40.26 second finish, while St James Academy, the only American squad to qualify for the Championship final, rounded out the top three in 40.38 seconds. Jamaican squads filled four of the top six spots, with St Jago taking fourth (40.43s), Edwin Allen fifth (40.51s), and Excelsior sixth (40.60s).
For William Knibb Memorial High School, a narrow miss qualifying for the Championship of America final turned into a different gold medal moment: the squad claimed the High School Boys’ International 4x100m title with a time of 40.71 seconds, outpacing 2023’s winning squad St George’s College, which crossed second in 42.27 seconds. Calabar took third in 42.48 seconds, followed by Cornwall College (42.51s), Munro College (42.54s), and Herbert Morrison Technical (42.63s).
The meet’s final day brought a stark turnaround from the first two days of competition, which had enjoyed unbroken warm, sunny conditions ideal for fast running. Saturday began cool and overcast, with weather worsening through the afternoon into driving cold rain, with temperatures holding steady in the mid-40s Fahrenheit that slowed times and disrupted race dynamics.
One of the biggest upsets of the day came in the High School Boys’ 4x400m Championship of America, where Kingston College’s bid for an unprecedented fifth consecutive Championship title fell short. Bullis School of Maryland, anchored by Olympic relay gold medalist Quincy Wilson, claimed gold with a winning time of 3:10.15. Archbishop John Carroll of Washington, D.C., took second in 3:13.15, with JC finishing third in 3:13.57 and KC fourth in 3:14.74. Munro College placed eighth in 3:27.73, while Excelsior suffered a fall on the first leg of the race and did not cross the finish line.
In the 4x800m Championship of America, JC was the only Jamaican squad to advance to the final, and finished fourth with a time of 7:52.27. Union Catholic of New Jersey took the national title in 7:41.14, followed by IMG Academy of Florida in second (7:42.71) and Hackensack of New Jersey in third (7:48.87).
The result marked the fewest Jamaican Championship of America titles at the annual meet in many years, though the opening two days of competition had already brought major wins for Jamaican squads: on Friday, Edwin Allen retained their 4x100m Championship of America title, while Hydel held on to their 4x400m Championship of America crown, in addition to a small number of individual gold medals for Jamaican athletes.