PHILADELPHIA — The 130th Penn Relays Carnival got off to a thrilling start at Franklin Field Thursday, with Jamaican high school programs delivering a stunning series of performances that have positioned them as overwhelming favorites across multiple championship events heading into the competition’s second day. Blessed with near-ideal sunny conditions that saw temperatures hover in the mid-20s Celsius — far milder than many forecast — Jamaican athletes dominated qualifying rounds for all three high school girls relay competitions and claimed three gold medals in individual field events, setting the stage for a historic day of finals.
Leading the charge is Edwin Allen High, which became the only program to qualify all three of its relay squads — 4x100m, 4x400m, and 4x800m — for the upcoming day’s finals. The squad already holds a historic legacy at the event, having claimed eight of the last 11 High School Girls 4x100m Championships of the Americas titles, and is chasing a fifth consecutive victory in the event Thursday. Edwin Allen clocked the fastest qualifying time of 45.63 seconds, cementing its status as the starting favorite. They will be joined in the final by fellow Jamaican squads St Jago High (45.73s), Excelsior High (46.03s), and first-time qualifiers Mt Alvernia High (46.35s), with an additional eight Jamaican teams advancing to the High School Girls International consolation final for non-American squads.
The 4x400m final is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated races of the entire carnival, after three Jamaican schools all clocked qualifying times under 3 minutes 40 seconds Thursday. Hydel High, gunning for its fourth straight 4x400m title, posted the fastest qualifying mark of 3:39.55, edging out Edwin Allen’s 3:39.56 by just one hundredth of a second. Holmwood Technical rounded out the sub-3:40 trio with a 3:39.82 run, while Alphansus Davis High also advanced with a 3:44.81. The top American contender, Bullis School of Maryland, qualified fourth with 3:40.24, trailing all three leading Jamaican squads.
In the 4x800m relay, Sydney Pagon STEM Academy — making just its second appearance at the Penn Relays — shocked observers by clocking the fastest qualifying time of 9:01.33 in the very first event of Thursday’s competition. The squad, anchored by a strong anchor leg from Alexia Palmer, finished ahead of former champion Edwin Allen (9:02.66), who also advanced. Last year’s second-place finishers Alphansus Davis won their qualifying heat in 9:08.30, while another former champion Holmwood Tech secured its final spot with a 9:14.80 run.
Jamaican success was not limited to the track, with athletes delivering standout performances in the field competition to turn previous disappointments into gold. Clarendon College’s Marla-Kay Lampart rebounded from a disappointing 11th-place finish in 2024 to claim the high school girls shot put championship, launching a personal best 14.41m on her final throw to take the title. Lampart, who entered the competition targeting the 14.50m qualifying mark for the World Under-20 Championships, took the lead in the third round with a 14.10m throw and held on to become the first Jamaican winner of the event since 2023. She finished ahead of Isabella Furgison of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania (14.08m) and Nesta Oji of Livingston, New Jersey (13.43m), though her win comes with uncertainty: Lampart revealed she may end her season early to treat a sore elbow and nagging lower back pain.
In the high school girls triple jump, Hydel High’s Zavien Bernard completed a historic season treble — adding a Penn Relays gold to his already claimed ISSA Championships and Carifta Games titles — with a dramatic come-from-behind win. Entering the final round in second place behind Seannah Parsons of Randolph, New Jersey, Bernard landed a wind-aided 12.76m jump (with a 3.1m/s tailwind) to snatch the gold, extending Jamaica’s consecutive winning streak in the event to four. Parsons finished second with 12.68m, while Jamaican athletes Mikayla Longmore of Holmwood Technical and Martina Moxam of Vere Technical finished fifth and tenth respectively.
Additional top finishes for Jamaican athletes included Edwin Allen High’s Dionjah Shaw taking silver in the discus throw with a 48.87m best, Immaculate Conception’s Zoelle Jamel claiming silver in the javelin throw with 48.84m, and Mt Alvernia High’s Malia Housen finishing sixth in the high jump on her first Penn Relays appearance. With all three relay finals set to take place Thursday, fans are expecting a historic day of competition that could cement Jamaican high school track and field’s status as the dominant force in youth relay competition at one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious track and field carnivals.