KINGSTON, Jamaica – A growing scam circulating on private messaging platforms has prompted an urgent public warning from the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA), which is moving quickly to alert residents of fraudulent communications claiming to offer insider access to discounted customs disposition sales. The fake messaging, which has spread widely via closed chat groups and one-on-one conversations on WhatsApp, lures targets with false promises of exclusive perks: early previews of upcoming auction inventory, the ability to reserve high-demand items before the general public, and private arrangements to secure goods at below-market rates. In an official press statement published Friday, the JCA emphasized that this scheme is entirely fabricated, and in no way aligns with the agency’s standard operational protocols. La Donna Manning, the JCA’s Director of Public Relations and Customer Service, reiterated the agency’s caution, stressing that all official customs auctions and disposition sales follow strictly structured, transparent, legally mandated procedures. There are no allowances within these processes for private item selection, early entry to listings, or preferential treatment for any participant, Manning explained. She added that the agency never conducts formal public business through informal messaging platforms or private, unsolicited conversations. The JCA is urging all community members to exercise extreme caution when encountering unsolicited messages of this nature, advising people not to respond, engage with the scammers, or share any sensitive personal or financial information. The agency also warned against sending any form of payment to individuals claiming to arrange early access to customs auctions, noting that all legitimate transactions are processed through verified, official channels only. For members of the public seeking accurate, up-to-date information on upcoming public auctions, all official listings are posted exclusively on the JCA’s official website, jca.gov.jm. The agency closed its statement by urging anyone who receives these suspicious fraudulent messages to immediately cut off contact, ignore all demands, and report the incident to local law enforcement and relevant regulatory authorities to prevent further victimization.
作者： admin
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Venezuela, Colombia pledge military cooperation on first post-Maduro visit
In a landmark moment marking the first foreign leader visit to Venezuela following the ousting of longtime authoritarian ruler Nicolas Maduro, Colombian President Gustavo Petro sat down for high-stakes talks with Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez in Caracas, where the two heads of state committed to coordinated military action against transnational criminal networks operating along their shared 1,375-mile border.
Rodriguez stepped into the interim presidency earlier this year after a rapid U.S. military special operations raid on the Venezuelan capital on January 3 successfully captured Maduro, the socialist leader who had held autocratic control of the country for more than a decade. Following his capture, Maduro was extradited to New York City to face formal charges related to large-scale drug trafficking.
Speaking to reporters after closed-door negotiations, Petro outlined the core mission of the newly announced partnership: the joint military push will target criminal mafias that have turned the porous border region into a hub for a wide array of illicit economies, with cocaine trafficking, unregulated illegal gold mining, human smuggling, and the illegal extraction of rare earth minerals topping the list of priorities.
For her part, Rodriguez confirmed that the two nations have already begun advancing concrete operational plans to back up the pledge. Beyond joint military deployments, the countries are moving quickly to put in place formal cross-border systems for real-time information sharing and coordinated intelligence gathering to disrupt criminal operations more effectively.
The Trump administration has thrown its full political and diplomatic support behind Rodriguez’s interim government, which has already moved to open Venezuela’s massive untapped oil reserves to development by U.S. energy companies, a major policy shift from Maduro’s long-standing nationalization of the country’s oil industry.
The meeting comes amid long-running tensions between Petro and the Trump White House. Petro, a leftist leader, has openly and harshly criticized the January U.S. military raid that toppled Maduro, prompting fierce pushback from Trump, who has publicly attacked Petro and claimed the Colombian president has failed to take sufficient action to curb drug production within Colombia’s borders.
A planned summit between the two leaders was originally scheduled to take place in March in Cucuta, the major Colombian border city that sits at the heart of cross-border smuggling routes. However, the meeting was abruptly scrapped at the eleventh hour for undisclosed reasons, leaving diplomatic relations in a holding pattern until this week’s visit.
For decades, the border region surrounding Cucuta has been a hotbed of activity for left-wing guerrilla factions and drug trafficking rings, with successive Colombian governments long accusing previous Venezuelan administrations of providing funding and safe haven for these armed groups. Monday’s agreement marks a new chapter in bilateral relations, as both countries seek to address long-standing security challenges that have plagued the border for generations.
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Hydel win fifth straight high school girls’ 4x400m title at Penn Relays
At the 130th running of the iconic Penn Relays Carnival held at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field, a bold strategic call by Jamaica’s Hydel High School delivered a historic result: the program claimed its fifth consecutive Championships of the Americas 4x400m title on Friday, clocking the third-fastest time in the event’s 130-year history.
In a high-risk move that defied traditional multi-event competition norms, Hydel High’s coaching staff elected to skip both the 4x100m and 4x800m relays to concentrate the team’s limited energy and roster depth exclusively on the 4x400m. The gamble nearly fell short, as the squad trailed rival Edwin Allen High for nearly the entire race before anchor leg runner Nastassia Fletcher made a decisive pass in the final 60 meters to secure the win.
Hydel crossed the finish line in 3:02.85? No, the official time was 3:32.85 seconds, a mark that cements its place in Penn Relays record books. Edwin Allen, one of Hydel’s longstanding Caribbean rivals, finished second with a time of 3:33.24 seconds — the fastest ever performance by the program at the Penn Relays and the fourth-fastest mark recorded in the history of the championship race. Bullis School from Maryland rounded out the top three with a time of 3:38.46 seconds.
Head coach Corey Bennett adjusted his lineup between Thursday’s preliminary rounds and Friday’s championship final, rearranging the running order to maximize the team’s speed profile. The adjusted final squad opened with first-leg runner Sashashunta Hemmings, followed by Sashanna Johnson on the second leg, Aaliyah Mullings on the third, and anchored by Fletcher. Friday’s win marks Hydel High’s 11th Penn Relays championship wheel (the iconic trophy awarded to relay winners at the event) in the 4x400m discipline.
In additional results from the championship race, Jamaica’s Holmwood Technical finished fourth in 3:39.43 seconds, while Alphansus Davis took eighth place with a time of 3:50.48 seconds.
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IACHR raises concern over Jamaica’s continued criminalisation of same-sex relationships
In its recently released 2025 annual human rights assessment, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an independent oversight body affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS), has outlined a mixed picture of progress and ongoing concerns for human rights protections across Jamaica. The report shines a light on both incremental policy wins and deep-rooted systemic gaps that continue to impact vulnerable communities across the Caribbean nation.
One of the most high-profile findings centers on LGBTQ+ rights: Jamaica retains its place as one of just five countries in the Americas that still enshrines criminal penalties for consensual same-sex relationships between adults. This legal framework runs counter to global advocacy priorities set by human rights organizations like the Association for the Prevention of Torture, which calls for full legal equality, protection from discrimination, and social inclusion for LGBTQ+ people in employment, healthcare, and all other spheres of public life.
Turning to disability rights, the IACHR acknowledged that Jamaica has continued rolling out its national Disabilities Act, which legally prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in education, employment, healthcare, and access to public spaces. Even with this legislative advance, the commission stressed that major barriers remain in place. Many disabled people, particularly those residing in rural communities with limited infrastructure and underfunded support systems, still lack consistent access to life-sustaining essential services. The report also flagged the absence of a specialized, appropriate facility to accommodate people with psychosocial disabilities held in state custody, joining broader concerns about poor conditions at Jamaica’s detention facilities, including the overcrowded and harsh conditions widely reported at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre.
On the contentious issue of capital punishment, the commission noted that Jamaica has not moved to strike the death penalty from its national statutes, despite a decades-long de facto moratorium on executions. No executions have been carried out in the country since 1988, and as of the latest official data in May 2023, no prisoners were currently facing a death sentence.
The IACHR did recognize several key positive steps taken by Jamaican authorities over the past year. Most notably, the report highlighted a dramatic 43% drop in homicides between January 1 and December 20, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. Official data recorded 649 homicides in the 2025 monitoring period, down from 1,136 the year before, bringing the national homicide rate down to 22.8 per 100,000 residents. The commission also welcomed ongoing work on constitutional reform, the launch of a public legal information portal to expand access to judicial resources, and the opening of Jamaica’s first dedicated shelter for boys who have survived human trafficking. In child welfare, the commission highlighted the opening of the St James Child and Adolescent Wellness Centre, a multi-agency facility offering critical mental health services including psychotherapy, family counseling, social work support, and psychiatric care. The new facility responds to a widespread public health crisis, with recent official data showing 20% of Jamaican children live with a diagnosable mental health disorder ranging from depression and anxiety to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Despite these gains, the IACHR raised urgent alarms around several persistent human rights risks, particularly related to citizen security and policing. The commission has continued monitoring Jamaica’s longstanding use of States of Public Emergency (SoEs) as a tool to suppress violent crime, and noted a landmark 2025 ruling from the Jamaican Supreme Court that found 17 SoEs declared between 2018 and 2023 were unconstitutional. The court ruled the measures exceeded legal authority: they were not declared for a constitutionally valid purpose, were disproportionate to the threat faced in a democratic society, and eroded separation of powers by undermining parliamentary oversight of emergency extensions. Even after this ruling, the commission confirmed that Jamaican authorities have continued to declare new SoEs, including new emergency measures for four police divisions in January 2025 following a spike in violent crime, and an additional SoE for the St Catherine North Police Division days later. The country’s parliament also approved a 180-day extension of Zones of Special Operations (ZOSOs), another targeted emergency security measure, across seven Jamaican communities in June 2025.
Most concerning, a special investigative report published in October 2025 by Jamaica’s Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) documented a staggering 591% increase in police-related fatalities linked to planned police operations between 2021 and 2024. Between January and July 2025 alone, 97 people were killed by police during planned operations. INDECOM’s report mandated that all planned police operations strictly adhere to the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s existing Use of Force and Firearms Policy, with requirements for advanced planning and full documentation of all activities. Local civil society groups have since called for full implementation of INDECOM’s recommendations, alongside an independent audit to confirm that all officers are meeting mandatory human rights and accountability standards.
In the area of child rights, the IACHR also expressed concern over a controversial amendment to Jamaica’s Child Care and Protection Act passed by the House of Representatives in April 2025. The bill increases mandatory sentencing guidelines for children convicted of homicide, allowing for life sentences or minimum 30-year prison terms for children convicted of capital murder, with parole eligibility only after 15 years of incarceration. For children convicted of non-capital murder, the bill allows for life sentences or other extended prison terms, with judges granted discretion to set parole eligibility windows. The change has drawn criticism from human rights advocates who argue that harsh extended sentences for juvenile offenders contradict international standards for child justice and rehabilitation.
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NRCA approves restricted bird shooting season for 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Nearly eight months after Hurricane Melissa swept across Jamaica causing widespread ecological damage, the island’s top natural resources oversight body has given preliminary approval to a tightly limited 2026 bird shooting season, balancing the needs of local shooting industry stakeholders against post-storm environmental recovery. The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), which serves as the administrative body for the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA), announced the preliminary decision reached during the NRCA’s April 21, 2026 governing meeting. According to NEPA, the in-principle approval was crafted to address two competing priorities: enabling businesses in the bird shooting sector to complete critical early preparation work, while accounting for the lasting ecological disruption left by Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall on the island in October 2025. To align with ongoing ecosystem recovery efforts, the 2026 season will come with significant new constraints, including geographically restricted hunting zones and a lowered overall cap on permitted shooting activities, NEPA confirmed. The current advisory, agency officials emphasized, is intended exclusively to support forward planning for sector operators, such as securing necessary supplies and adjusting operational logistics well in advance of the planned opening. Final, formal details of the season’s structure, rules, and boundaries will be published at a later date once all regulatory and environmental assessments are completed. Per current projections, the 2026 bird shooting season is scheduled to launch between mid- and late-August 2026, and conclude by the end of September 2026.
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JC’s Michael-Andre Edwards breaks 10-year-old Penn Relays triple jump record
PHILADELPHIA – One of the most anticipated upsets at the historic 130th Penn Relays Carnival unfolded on Friday during the meet’s second day at Franklin Field, where Michael-Andre Edwards of Jamaica College delivered a career-defining performance to shatter a 10-year high school boys’ triple jump record that had stood since 2016.
Going into the competition, the 16.01m record set by former Jamaica College athlete O’Brien Wasome had long been flagged as vulnerable. Edwards proved that prediction correct in the third round of jumps, when he landed a 16.26m leap with a -0.1m/s wind to push past the old benchmark. Refusing to settle, the young jumper topped his own new mark in the very next round, clocking a personal best of 16.29m with a 0.8m/s tailwind that secured his place in the event’s history books.
In post-competition comments, Edwards acknowledged he had targeted the record long before stepping onto Franklin Field’s iconic track, driven in part by the connection of the previous record holder to his own school. His consistent dominance across the entire competition was remarkable: after setting the new record, Edwards delivered two additional jumps that cleared 16.12m, rounding out a standout series of performances that outpaced every other competitor in the field.
Edwards’ win also extended Jamaica’s unbroken streak of dominance in the event to five consecutive years. Even the second-place finisher, American Mile Nesmith of Memphis Central High School (Tennessee) – the holder of the U.S. high school indoor record – turned in an impressive performance that broke Wasome’s old record, landing a 16.18m jump with a 0.4m/s wind, but still fell short of Edwards’ historic mark.
The event saw multiple other Jamaican athletes place in top positions, reflecting the nation’s continued depth in track and field jumping events. Rekelme Hunter of Kingston College took third place with a 15.41m jump, Kabiki Thomas of Wolmers’ Boys School claimed fifth with 14.77m, Antonio Anderson of Calabar High took sixth with 14.75m, and Wolmers’ Boys School’s Roshane Francis followed close behind in seventh with 14.74m.
In other jumping events at the carnival, Santino Distin of St Elizabeth Technical notched a season-best 2.06m to earn third place in the high school boys’ high jump. The event was won by Ryan Buskey of Colonie Central High School in New York, who cleared 2.14m, while Darius Reid of Upper Perkiomen High School in Pennsylvania took second with a 2.09m clearance.
In the high school boys’ long jump, Jamaica also placed multiple athletes in the top ranks. Jaivar Cato of Jamaica College finished fourth with a 7.11m jump, Omarion Miller of Kingston College took fifth with 7.06m, and Talshawn Edwards of Calabar High secured sixth place with a 7.04m leap.
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FID, RPD sign MoU to protect revenue and the financial system
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Two of Jamaica’s leading financial regulatory and law enforcement agencies have cemented a new strategic alliance to tackle pervasive illicit financial activity across the island. The Financial Investigations Division (FID) and the Revenue Protection Department (RPD) have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that establishes a formal structure for deepened collaboration against a range of threats, including money laundering, terrorist financing, revenue fraud, and other systemic financial crimes.
Dennis Chung, Chief Technical Director of the FID, emphasized that the agreement builds on a already productive working relationship between the two agencies, while formalizing critical processes that will amplify their collective impact. Under the new framework, clear protocols for cross-agency information sharing, case referrals, and coordinated enforcement actions are now in place. These structured arrangements, Chung explained, will drastically boost both bodies’ capacity to identify, probe, and disrupt illegal financial activities that erode government revenue and undermine the stability and integrity of Jamaica’s entire financial system. He noted that this kind of targeted strategic partnership is a foundational requirement for effective national regulatory enforcement and crime mitigation.
Cranston Morgan, who serves as both Chief Technical Director of the RPD and Commissioner of Revenue Protection, echoed Chung’s optimism, highlighting that the alliance will strengthen both agencies’ ability to rapidly respond to financial misconduct and guard the broader public interest.
Morgan framed the MoU as another measurable milestone in the ongoing effort to tighten inter-agency cooperation. It creates a reliable foundation for timely information exchanges, more cohesive operational coordination, and more strategic utilization of each agency’s unique institutional expertise when addressing revenue offenses and linked financial crimes. He emphasized that the partnership delivers mutual benefits for both bodies, while also advancing the Jamaican government’s wider national goals: protecting public funds and bolstering domestic and international confidence in Jamaica’s financial regulatory ecosystem.
At its core, the MoU outlines a formal legal framework for consultation, collaborative action, and lawful information sharing that aligns with both agencies’ statutory mandates. Beyond information sharing, the agreement is designed to strengthen intelligence gathering, streamline cross-agency coordination, and enable more effective criminal and civil investigations as well as enforcement outcomes.
The agreement details clear reciprocal obligations for both agencies. The FID will supply the RPD with raw data and supporting materials required for intelligence development and ongoing investigations, alongside advance notification of any upcoming criminal probes that involve individuals or entities of interest to the RPD. It will also share requested statistical data to support RPD work.
In exchange, the RPD will provide the FID with its own relevant data and materials to aid the FID’s intelligence and investigation activities. This includes alerts of suspected revenue crimes and other financial offenses involving parties the FID is tracking, plus relevant statistical data, specialized technical assistance, and compliance data that can support the FID’s investigation and prosecution of financial crimes.
Additional provisions of the MoU cover expanded collaborative activities: case referrals between agencies, joint enforcement operations, parallel criminal investigations, cross-training for personnel from both bodies, and coordinated public outreach initiatives. These outreach efforts are designed to educate key stakeholders on the full range of risks linked to corruption, violations of revenue law, money laundering, and terrorist financing. The agreement also formalizes governance protocols to ensure all shared information is handled securely, protected from unauthorized access, and used only for appropriate, legally permitted purposes.
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‘Natural’ birth control risks unwanted pregnancy, experts warn
Across Western Europe, a growing movement of women are stepping away from decades of reliance on hormonal contraception like the birth control pill, turning to so-called natural fertility tracking methods in search of a hormone-free approach to pregnancy prevention. But this growing trend, fueled in large part by social media influencer advocacy and the booming global wellness industry, carries significant underreported risks that have already led to devastating outcomes for some users, medical experts warn.
Elodie Monnier Legrand, a 30-year-old small business owner based in France, was one of the many women drawn to the idea of natural birth control after a decade of using the pill. She sought to let her body return to its natural, hormone-free state, investing in a monthly subscription for a popular fertility tracking app and a 200-euro smart temperature-monitoring ring to follow her cycle. Just months after making the switch, however, Legrand experienced two unplanned pregnancies that ended in abortion within six months. She later discovered her go-to app had miscalculated her fertile window by a small margin, a mistake that had life-altering consequences. “It’s not an exact science,” Legrand told AFP in an interview, adding that after the incidents, the app’s customer service offered only cold, impersonal responses. While she still considers the conversation around natural contraception interesting, she now questions whether the trend is little more than a new profitable market for the wellness industry.
Official data underscores just how quickly this trend is growing in France. According to France’s national health research institute INSERM, the share of women using natural contraceptive methods jumped from just 4.6% in 2016 to 7.5% in 2023. A similar decline in hormonal contraception use has been recorded across the English Channel: a 2023 study published in BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health found that hormonal contraception use in England and Wales fell from 19% in 2018 to only 11% in 2023, mirroring the uptick in interest in natural fertility awareness methods.
Social media influencers are a core driver of this shift, often framing natural birth control as a form of liberation from the unwanted hormonal side effects of the pill and other hormonal contraceptives. For many women, these claims resonate. Louise, a 26-year-old French woman who asked to keep her surname private, told AFP that hormonal contraception caused severe health issues for her: at 18, her body rejected a hormonal IUD, and a subsequent contraceptive implant left her struggling with unmanageable weight gain, severe mood swings and clinical depression. For six years, she has relied on the calendar method, one of the most common natural approaches, which involves calculating the monthly 10-day fertile window and abstaining from intercourse during that time.
Other popular natural methods include the temperature method, which requires daily tracking of basal body temperature to detect the small increase that occurs during ovulation, the Billings method, which requires daily self-inspection of cervical mucus to identify fertile days, and the sympto-thermal method, which combines temperature and mucus tracking.
But medical experts say much of the popular rhetoric around hormonal contraception and natural methods relies on misinformation, and that fertility tracking requires extreme, consistent discipline to deliver even partial effectiveness. Geoffroy Robin, a gynecologist at Lille University Hospital in France, told AFP that the current surge in interest in natural methods stems from a widespread “climate of hormone-phobia” that overlooks the pill’s decades-long role as a foundational tool for women’s emancipation, giving women control over their reproductive plans that enabled educational and professional advancement.
Multiple independent studies confirm that natural contraceptive methods are far less effective than hormonal or barrier contraception. A 2022 INSERM review of roughly 100 popular fertility tracking apps found that fewer than 20% delivered accurate predictions of fertility cycles. The review also uncovered a major privacy risk: most apps shared users’ sensitive personal health data with third-party advertisers, often without explicit user consent. Robin added that natural methods are completely ineffective for the roughly one in five women who have irregular menstrual cycles, and many common everyday factors can skew tracking results: yeast infections and antihistamine medications can disrupt cervical mucus production, while paracetamol, antibiotics, or even a sudden shift in work schedule can alter basal body temperature, leading to incorrect fertile window calculations. The 2023 BMJ study also identified a correlation between the rise in natural contraception use and a recent increase in abortion rates across England and Wales.
INSERM experts emphasize that natural contraception should only be considered by women who are fully willing and able to accept the risk of an unplanned pregnancy. For those with irregular cycles or preexisting health conditions that can disrupt tracking, these methods are not a safe alternative to traditional contraception, doctors stress, urging any woman considering a switch from hormonal contraception to consult a licensed gynecologist before making a change.
French sociologist Cecile Thome points out that the trend is deeply tied to the growth of the global wellness industry, which markets natural contraception under the appealing banner of “taking control of one’s body”—a marketing message that has convinced millions of women to spend money on apps, wearables and other fertility tracking products. For Legrand, that promise of control ultimately ended in profound physical and psychological harm, leaving her to question whether the trend is as empowering as its advocates claim.
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Edwin Allen reclaim high school girls’ 4x100m title at Penn Relays
The 130th running of the iconic Penn Relays Carnival, one of the most prestigious annual track and field events in North America, delivered another historic moment on its second competition day at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field, as Jamaica’s Edwin Allen High School defended its Championships of Americas girls’ 4x100m crown in dominant fashion, clocking the third-fastest time in the event’s history.
Competing against a stacked field of top high school relay squads from across the region, Edwin Allen faced an early test from Bullis School of Maryland, one of the top-ranked U.S. programs entering the final. But second-leg runner Alexxe Henry broke open the race early, seizing the lead from Bullis and extending a gap that Edwin Allen never relinquished through the final exchange. When the final sprinter crossed the finish line, the clock stopped at 44.13 seconds, a time that cements the team’s place in Penn Relays history.
This victory marks Edwin Allen’s 11th overall title in the event, and extends the program’s extraordinary decades-long run of dominance: this win is the Jamaican squad’s ninth in the last 11 editions of the Championships of Americas. The only two titles the program did not claim over that stretch went to Hydel High, another Jamaican powerhouse that has emerged as the school’s primary rival in recent years.
Only two 4x100m squads in Edwin Allen’s own decorated history have posted faster times at the Penn Relays: the 2019 team that set the current event meet record of 43.62 seconds, and the 2017 squad that ran 43.96 seconds, which was a meet record at the time.
In the final standings, Jamaica’s St Jago High took second place with a solid time of 45.08 seconds, while New Jersey’s Pennsauken rounded out the top three with a 45.30-second run. Excelsior High finished fourth in 45.6 seconds, followed by Mt Alvernia High, first-time finalists who clocked 45.94 seconds to take fifth.
In the accompanying International final, St Augustine’s from the Bahamas, the only non-Jamaican team in that competition field, claimed gold with a 45.90 finish. Alpha Academy took second in 46.42 seconds, followed by Holmwood Technical (46.74 seconds), St Mary High (46.77 seconds), William Knibb High (47.11 seconds), Vere Technical (47.33 seconds), Penwood High (47.45 seconds), Meadowbrook High (48.07 seconds) and Manchester High (48.19 seconds).
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Jamaica College leads eight Jamaican teams into 4x100m COA finals
At the historic 130th Penn Relays Carnival held at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field, Jamaican high school track and field programs delivered a stunning display of sprinting dominance on Friday, claiming eight of the coveted spots in Saturday’s Championship of Americas boys’ final. Leading the charge was Jamaica College, whose four-person squad of Malique Dennis, Nathaniel Martin, Elijah Smeikle and Kai Kelly clocked a blistering preliminary time of 40.11 seconds — the fastest mark of any team across the entire qualifying round.
The only non-Jamaican team to secure a place in the final is St. James Academy from Virginia, which finished just 0.13 seconds behind Jamaica College with a time of 40.24 seconds. The remaining six spots in the eight-team final went to other elite Jamaican programs, who turned in consistently impressive performances throughout the preliminaries: Kingston College finished at 40.26 seconds, followed by Edwin Allen (40.37), Excelsior High (40.54), St Jago High (40.73), Petersfield High (41.19), St Mary High (41.21), and Wolmer’s Boys (41.24).
Wolmer’s Boys claimed the final spot in the Championship of Americas final via a photo finish, edging out fellow Jamaican squad William Knibb Memorial despite both teams posting an identical 41.24-second time. While William Knibb missed out on the top-tier final, the team’s strong performance landed it a spot in the meet’s international final, which will feature another six Jamaican squads alongside the local competitors. Additional Jamaican teams that secured qualification for the international final include St George’s College (41.56), Calabar High (41.58), Munro College (41.86), Cornwall College (41.91), and Herbert Morrison (42.21).
The overwhelming Jamaican presence in both the Championship of Americas final and the international final underscores the long-standing reputation of Caribbean high school programs for producing elite young sprint talent, setting the stage for a highly anticipated championship round on Saturday.