标签： Jamaica

PHILADELPHIA – As the 130th running of the historic Penn Relays reaches its climax on Saturday at Franklin Field, Jamaica’s elite high school track and field programs have already turned in a series of standout performances, headlined by an unprecedented run from Jamaica College (JC).

The Kingston-based institution, nicknamed the Dark Blues, has already made meet history as the only Jamaican high school to secure spots in both the prestigious boys’ 4x100m and 4x800m Championship of America finals, with a chance to add a third final berth in the 4x400m relay on Saturday itself. The 4x400m preliminary rounds are scheduled for Saturday morning, with the final to follow later that day.

Long before the relay finals get underway, JC’s athletes already began bringing home titles and breaking records on the opening day of competition. On Friday, Michael-Andre Edwards delivered a historic performance in the boys’ triple jump, shattering a 10-year-old meet record to successfully defend his 2024 title. Edwards’ best jump of 16.29 meters with a 0.8m/s wind broke the previous mark of 16.01m set by O’Brien Wasom in 2016. He first notched a 16.26m jump in the third round, before improving his own new record on his next attempt. Edwards, who entered the competition targeting the record, recorded multiple jumps over 16.12m across the event, and extended Jamaica’s consecutive winning streak in the event to five years. Even runner-up Myles Nesmeth, the American indoor record holder from Memphis Central High in Tennessee, surpassed the old record with a jump of 16.18m, but fell short of Edwards’ historic mark. Multiple other Jamaican athletes placed in the event, with KC’s Rekelme Hunter taking third in 15.41m.

JC also picked up a second individual title on Friday, thanks to a personal best performance from discus thrower Joseph Salmon. After taking second place at the 2024 Penn Relays, Salmon climbed to the top of the podium this year with a throw of 63.55m – the ninth-best mark in the 130-year history of the high school boys’ discus competition at the meet. The win adds to Salmon’s already impressive 2025 campaign, which includes titles at both the ISSA Boys’ Championships and the Carifta Games Under-20 division. Calabar’s Kamari Kennedy took second place with 61.19m, while Munro College’s Rajeem Streete rounded out the top three with 60.25m.

Jamaican success extended beyond JC on Friday, too. Edwin Allen High’s Addison James delivered a massive personal best to retain his boys’ javelin title, throwing 72.44m – the third-longest mark in meet history – to beat his own 2024 winning mark of 65.98m. The Dominican Under-20 national record holder outperformed every other competitor by a wide margin to take the win.

In relay qualifying, JC’s 4x100m quartet of Malique Dennis, Nathaniel Martin, Elijah Smeikle and Kai Kelly turned in the fastest qualifying time of 40.11 seconds to lead all competitors into the Championship of America final. Virginia’s St James Academy clocked the second-fastest time of 40.24 seconds. Seven other Jamaican boys’ teams joined JC in qualifying for the Championship of America final: Kingston College (KC) with 40.26 seconds, Edwin Allen at 40.37, Excelsior High at 40.54, St Jago High at 40.73, Petersfield High at 41.19, St Mary High at 41.21, and Wolmer’s Boys’ at 41.24. Wolmer’s edged out William Knibb Memorial, who also clocked 41.24 seconds, leaving the latter to compete in the International final, which will feature six Jamaican squads overall.

In the boys’ 4x800m Championship of America qualifying, three-time winners JC once again led the field, clocking 7:43.56 to take the top qualifying spot as the only Jamaican school to advance to the final. The squad of Rasheed Pryce, Carlos Brison Caines, Sekani Brown and Shemar Green won their qualifying heat, and will enter Saturday’s final targeting their second title in three years, having taken top honors at the 2024 Penn Relays. A number of other Jamaican programs competed in qualifying but fell short of advancing to the Championship of America final, including KC, who finished 14th overall with a time of 7:51.88, Alphansus Davis High in 22nd at 7:55.07, and St Elizabeth Technical High in 24th at 7:55.43.

In other individual events on Friday, several Jamaican athletes earned top-three finishes. KC’s Nkosana Johnson took third place in the boys’ shot put with a throw of 19.15m, while St Elizabeth Technical’s Santino Distin cleared a season-best 2.06m to take third in the high jump. JC’s Jaivar Cato placed fourth in the long jump with a 7.11m leap.

PHILADELPHIA — The 130th iteration of the iconic Penn Relays Carnival wrapped up its final day of competition Saturday at Franklin Field, where Jamaica College delivered a masterclass in sprint relay teamwork to secure their third High School Boys 4x100m Championships of the Americas crown, clocking an impressive 40.03 seconds against unseasonably cold on-track conditions.

A last-minute lineup adjustment highlighted Jamaica College’s road to victory: sprinter Makaeean Woods stepped into the quartet to replace Malique Dennis, who had anchored the team through Friday’s preliminary heats. Woods joined returning core members Nathaniel Martin, Elijah Smeikle and Kai Kelly to cross the finish line ahead of a stacked field, and in doing so, stretched Jamaica’s unrivaled dominance in this elite event to an unprecedented 20 consecutive victories, a winning streak that stretches all the way back to the 2005 running of the Penn Relays.

In a tight race that saw top competitors finish within fractions of a second of one another, Kingston College claimed the second position with a final time of 40.26 seconds. St James Academy, the only United States-based squad to qualify for the event’s final round, rounded out the top three with a time of 40.38 seconds.

The rest of the final standings saw four more Jamaican high school squads take the next four spots: St Jago High finished fourth in 40.43 seconds, followed by Edwin Allen High at 40.51 seconds, Excelsior High at 40.60 seconds. Wolmers Boys, Petersfield High and St Mary High closed out the final field in seventh, eighth and ninth place with times of 41.68 seconds, 41.77 seconds and 42.37 seconds respectively.

One of women’s football’s most in-demand attacking talents, Jamaica and Manchester City star Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, is currently evaluating her long-term career options after Chelsea Women tabled a blockbuster annual contract offer worth £1 million, multiple sources close to the situation have confirmed.

Per reporting from British sports outlet The Athletic, the offer arrives as Shaw’s current deal with Manchester City is set to expire at the end of the 2023-24 season, with the annual salary totaling around 200 million Jamaican dollars.

Since making the move to the Etihad Stadium in 2021, the prolific Reggae Girlz captain has rapidly cemented her status as one of the most dangerous finishers in the Women’s Super League. Across her three seasons with the club, she has consistently topped the club’s goal scoring charts and forced her way into the conversation among the top tier of forwards competing in Europe’s top women’s domestic competition.

The 2023-24 campaign has been Shaw’s strongest to date: she currently sits among the WSL’s leading goal scorers, and has been a foundational piece of Gareth Taylor’s squad as it pushes hard for a historic league title. Her consistent elite performances have not only boosted her global profile, but also drawn interest from a host of top clubs across Europe and the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States, beyond Chelsea’s formal approach.

Despite the generous financial package from the London-based Blues, multiple insider reports indicate Shaw is currently inclined to remain with Manchester City, the club where she has built her reputation as a global star. That said, the Manchester side has so far failed to match the £1 million annual salary terms that Chelsea has put on the table, leaving the final outcome of Shaw’s future unresolved ahead of this summer’s transfer window.

Jamaican football is witnessing the rapid rise of an extraordinary young talent, 13-year-old Christian Foster of Hillel Academy, who has already carved out an unmatched reputation in the country’s schoolboy football landscape. What makes Foster’s trajectory extraordinary is that he made his breakthrough at 12, becoming one of the youngest players – and potentially the youngest ever – to earn a spot in the highly competitive Manning Cup, one of Jamaica’s most prestigious schoolboy football competitions. Barely a year into his teens, the versatile midfielder and forward has already cemented his status as one of the most promising young prospects in the entire nation.

This coming Sunday, April 26, Foster will add another chapter to his burgeoning story when he takes the pitch for the All-Star Jamaica Under-14 showcase, hosted at Jamaica College. The U-14 contest will kick off at 1:00 pm, preceding the U-16 all-star match scheduled for 3:00 pm. This selection marks not just another honor for the young star, but his third overall all-star nod: he previously earned a spot at the Under-12 level, and this selection marks his second consecutive invitation to the U-14 showcase.

For the eighth-grade student, every new opportunity is a chance to grow, and he brings a grounded enthusiasm to every match. “It’s a very great feeling to be able to be performing for my school and also to be excited for the All-Star,” Foster shared. “I’m hoping that I’ll be able to play well again in the upcoming season and also to play well in the All-Star.”

What sets Foster apart from his peers is not just natural talent, but a level of discipline, consistency, and on-pitch maturity that defies his young age. The statistics alone tell a compelling story of his dominance at his age group: he notched 13 goals this season for Hillel Academy’s Under-14 side in the ISSA U-14 competition, and currently sits as the top goalscorer in the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association Under-13 league, where he represents Cavalier Football Club with 14 goals to his name. His rising profile has also caught the attention of the national governing body, earning an invitation to train with the Jamaica Football Federation’s Under-14 program, a clear marker of his growing standing within the local football community.

Even as he balances the demands of academic work and competitive football, Foster says that the extra effort he puts in outside of organized team training is what has allowed him to outpace many players of his age. “Just by training for your team alone, it’s not enough to carry you to that extra, extra level,” he explained. That is why he puts in additional daily work with personal coaches Devon Anderson and Crooks, targeting specific areas of his game that need refinement. These extra sessions, which typically run around two hours per day, focus on core fundamentals: speed, shooting accuracy, passing technique, and the foundational skills that underpin elite performance.

Another major catalyst for Foster’s rapid development has been his early exposure to Manning Cup football, where he has been forced to compete against players who are years older, physically stronger, and faster than he is. The young prospect calls the experience invaluable. “It was a very great experience playing Manning Cup at such a young age. It gave me a feel of what playing with an older age group feels like. It’s definitely harder and the pace of the game is way faster than at the U-14 level,” he said. Despite the steep step up in competition, Foster adapted quickly to the new demands, noting that the faster pace required sharper technical decision-making and quicker movement off the ball. “From a technical standpoint, you have to move way faster. You have to be thinking more because you won’t have as much time on the ball because the players are bigger and faster,” he added.

Foster’s maturity extends beyond his on-pitch performance to his approach to leadership, as well. Already serving as captain of Hillel Academy’s Under-14 team, he believes that effective leadership starts with personal accountability and setting a strong example for his teammates. “I can’t be doing the wrong thing and tell my teammates to do the right thing. So I just have to do the right things and play well,” he said, while also crediting his teammates for being instrumental to his individual success.

Those who have followed Foster’s development from his early prep school days are quick to sing his praises. Leighton Davis, organizer of All-Star Jamaica, has tracked the prospect’s progression through the youth ranks, and highlighted what makes Foster stand out. “One thing I love about the competition is you get to see players like Christian who are coming from preparatory school and going into high school and still doing exceptionally well. We love to watch their journey, and of course, we think he’s a great player. We have seen that because he has also played up in Manning Cup, scored goals, so he is a leader and one to watch for the future,” Davis said.

Though still years away from reaching full adulthood, Foster already has clear, ambitious long-term goals for his career. A devoted fan of English Premier League side Arsenal, he dreams of eventually turning professional, playing either in Europe or in North America’s Major League Soccer. “I watch the Premier League the most, so that’s where I want to play in Europe,” he stated.

For the immediate future, however, the young prodigy remains focused on incremental growth: continuing to refine his game, guiding Hillel Academy to deeper runs in upcoming competitions, and leading his North team to a win in Sunday’s all-star clash, after the North fell to the South in the two previous editions of the showcase.

Jamaica’s Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) has emerged from one of the toughest stretches in its modern history, pulling off full seasons of interscholastic sports against the dual threats of post-hurricane infrastructure damage and lingering COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. The crisis began last October, when Hurricane Melissa made landfall along Jamaica’s western coast right in the middle of the annual schoolboy football season, bringing all competition to a near total halt for roughly four weeks. The storm hit hardest at local educational institutions across the affected region, including St Elizabeth Technical High School — the campus where ISSA President Keith Wellington serves as principal. In the months that followed, the organisation faced a fresh test: preparing for the iconic ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships, widely known as Champs, scheduled for this past March. Ultimately, just 25 schools from the hurricane-ravaged western parishes were able to field teams and participate in this year’s flagship competition. In the wake of the storm, dozens of institutions across western Jamaica continued operating at severely reduced capacity. Many campuses were converted into emergency shelters for displaced local residents, while others remained without reliable electrical power for weeks after the storm passed. Hundreds of student-athletes were displaced from their home parishes and forced to relocate to temporary accommodation across the island. Some schools suspended entire sports programs indefinitely to focus on recovery efforts, and many even held regular classes outdoors while crews worked to repair storm-damaged campus facilities. Wellington, who is currently serving his third term as ISSA president after first taking office in 2019, says the organisation would not have pulled off its competition calendar without cross-community collaboration. In a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer, he outlined the collective effort that kept school sports alive through the crisis. “It has been challenging, but I think we have a great team at ISSA, both in terms of the staff, as well as the executive. When we’re talking about Champs specifically, that extends to the persons who assisted with organising the event, the schools themselves, and their representatives,” Wellington explained. “I think that because we all work together it makes it a lot easier, and I think, as well, that those of us who are involved know the value of what we do for our children. Therefore we remain committed and we make the sacrifices to ensure that the opportunities are there for them. If we don’t ensure that it is there, even under trying circumstances, the long term effects would be too much for any of us to bear.” The recent stretch of disruptions echoes the unprecedented crisis ISSA faced in March 2020, when Jamaica confirmed its first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 just days before that year’s Champs was set to begin. The event was cancelled outright — the first cancellation of the championships since 1944, when the event was put on hold amid global World War II restrictions. Interscholastic school sports eventually resumed under strict public health protocols, including a period where competitions were held without any spectators in attendance. Even with the cumulative impact of back-to-back crises over the past five years, Wellington frames ongoing challenges not as a barrier to progress, but as a source of motivation for himself and the broader ISSA team. “I thrive on challenges,” he said. “I grew up having challenges in my personal life and it makes me stronger and makes me a better person. So, I don’t necessarily look at challenges as obstacles but as an antidote to make me stronger. So, I don’t really complain or think negatively about challenges. At the end of the day, I believe that once I give it my best shot, I will be happy and I will benefit from it too.” Most recently, the organisation has celebrated key competition milestones, including St Elizabeth Technical High School’s December 2025 victory in the ISSA daCosta Cup final at Kingston’s National Stadium, where the team defeated Glenmuir High School on penalties after a 0-0 regulation draw. In March 2026, Jamaica College’s under-14 team also claimed the title in the ISSA/Burger King Urban Under-14 competition, overcoming Kingston College 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Stadium East.